MKR3 Legend of The Ultimate Knights
by Yunari Rizaki
Summary: CHAPTERS 8+9 UPLOADED! Yunari battles for Escudo / Hikaru and Co. run into some problems! I promise after the first few chapters it gets interesting. Just bear with me here, alright? All chapters are redone/please read and review with suggestions! Thanks!
1. Level 50: The Return Of The Legendary Ma...

Magic Knight Rayearth 3  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Author's Notes: Everyone looks and sounds like they did in the movie series (except for changes that naturally come with age). However, the Fuu in this story looks like the Fuu from the series, but talks like the O.V.A. Fuu.  
  
A great view of Tokyo tower is provided. The scene then flashes to a busy street full of shops and an occasional apartment home. It finally changes to a quieter road, where there is a long driveway leading to a house and a Kendo dojo. Surrounding the large premises is a black iron fence. At the front, where the gate is, there is a gold nameplate that reads "Shidou". Inside, a girl with a pony-tail-braid of long red hair is seen, bokken in hand, white martial arts uniform on, fighting a tall teen of about nineteen years.  
  
"Satoru! How am I supposed to beat you? It's practically impossible, and even Matoru couldn't beat you, and he's the second best fighter we have at this dojo! Hiyah!" Hikaru took a slash at Satoru, who easily jumped out of the way.  
  
"You have to focus your energy and your concentration on your sword and on me. Do not let anything else distract you, all right, little sister?"  
  
"I told you you'd never beat him sis!" Masaru said as Satoru ran forward, did a high jump, and grunted as he swung his own bokken at Hikaru, who didn't dodge it in time. The black maple bokken connected with her arm, but did not go light on her arm like it was supposed to.  
  
"AAAHH!" Hikaru cried out in pain, just as a sickening snap was heard. Hikaru's bokken clattered to the ground, and she fell to her knees, grasping her arm.  
  
Some people outside in the yard and on other spots on the Shidou property lifted their heads when they heard the scream, but they figured they just heard something, and they went back to work. However, one person passing by the Shidou's house, heard the scream distinctly well, and understood what they had just heard....  
  
"Hikaru!" her three brothers yelled as they ran over to her. As Masaru and Kakeru hovered over her anxiously, Satoru bent down, put her arm around his neck, and helped her up as they all quickly walked toward the house.  
  
"What's wrong with her Satoru?!" asked Kakeru as they helped her up to her room.  
  
After briefly rolling up Hikaru's sleeve and inspecting the limb he hit, he answered simply, "Her arm is broken." With that said and done, he lightly placed Hikaru on her bed.  
  
"I'll get the ice!" Masaru yelled, sprinting out the door. Kakeru followed closely behind. "I'll get the splint!" He, too, left her room at full speed. Meanwhile, Satoru told Hikaru that he was sorry he injured her, and then he sat in a chair near her bed, waiting for her other brothers.  
  
Hikaru was only dimly aware of all this, and despite the fact that her arm was paining her badly, she couldn't help but think the whole situation was funny. 'Great,' she thought to herself. 'Just another reason for my brothers to be even more protective, *if that's even possible*.' Then, as she laughed at the thought of their new level of defensiveness, her eyes slowly closed, and she fell into a deep sleep.  
  
Meanwhile, at a mansion about 3 miles from Hikaru's home, a girl with long blue hair ran out of her room, picnic basket in hand. She was wearing her customary spring school uniform, which consisted of a white short-sleeved blouse and a thin blue vest and skirt.  
  
"I'm going!" She called to her mother and father as she bolted out the front door. Her parents looked up from their gardening.  
  
"Out to see your dear friends, Fuu and Hikaru, I suppose?" her mother asked.  
  
"Or maybe you're going to see a nice young man this time, Umi?" asked her father, with a sly grin on his face.  
  
"FATHER! Really!" Umi gave an anxious glare to her father. She hated it when he started in like that about boys and her. "Mother was right, Dad. I'm meeting Hikaru and Fuu at the park. You know, the one that is right in between our three neighborhoods?"  
  
Umi's mother and father nodded their heads and waved as Umi raced out and caught a bus to the park.  
  
"I wish that daughter of ours would stop turning down all those nice men who ask her out," her mother said, shaking her head worriedly. "I do get this strange feeling, though. Like maybe there's someone who she can't stop thinking of.."  
  
"..but just can't tell us about; or someone or something is on her precious mind." Umi's father nodded, finishing what his wife was saying. "I get just that same feeling, dear."  
  
"I love you, honey."  
  
"I love you two, dear."  
  
Umi sweat-dropped as she watched her parents through the back window of the bus. As they hugged and kissed each other for what she thought to be the millionth time, she closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. "I've said it once, and I'll say it again," Umi stated out loud to herself. "Those two are *some* lovebirds!..*sigh*..I hope I'm not going to be late."  
  
At the same time, a girl with bright, short blond hair was waiting at the park. She sighed, and walked over to a park bench, obviously bored from waiting. She was wearing a spring school uniform as well, and it resembled Umi's a lot. The only major difference was that her uniform was green. Suddenly, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around.  
  
"Kuu?!" "Well, you are Fuu, aren't you?" Kuu laughed, as she saw the surprised look on her sister's face. "Aren't you meeting Hikaru and Umi today?"  
  
"Well, yeah."  
  
"Don't you usually go to Tokyo Tower with them? I mean, what are you doing in the park?"  
  
"I'd have to ask the same of you, Kuu. And anyway, we only got to Tokyo Tower every now and then. We meet up more than you would know, because you're usually out yourself."  
  
"Oh, yes, silly me. I'm out here on a date, if you need to know."  
  
"Oh...*sorry*," Fuu apologized in a small voice. A pink-ish tinge crawled up her face.  
  
"Why are you blushing, Fuu?" Kuu asked with a quizzical look on her face.  
  
"Oh..I, uh..I didn't mean to invade your personal life." Fuu innocently answered.  
  
"Oh, it's OK. It's not a bother to me, all right? So don't worry yourself sick about hurting my feelings. You just worry about your personal life, OK?"  
  
"All right." The blush left Fuu's face as relief swept over her.  
  
"Well, I guess this is my Que. to leave. Have a good time," Kuu said as she turned to go.  
  
"Why are you leaving?"  
  
"Well, first off, my dear boyfriend is probably getting impatient, and I think I see Umi getting off that bus over there."  
  
"huh? Oh, OK! I'll see you later Kuu!" Fuu called, as she scrambled to get up and meet Umi over by the park gates.  
  
Meanwhile, back at Hikaru's house, people were all over, training in several martial arts, and it was fairly noisy. But inside the house, it was quiet.  
  
Hikaru woke up in her room, confused because of the hint of pain in her arm. As she strained to think about what had happened so far that day, she suddenly remembered what had happened. Upon doing so, she rolled up her white sleeve, and looked down at her arm. It was swollen and had a dark- colored bump where Satoru's bokken had hit. "Speaking of Satoru," she mumbled aloud, "where are my brothers?"  
  
She carefully got out of bed, and searched around for a note. She knew that Satoru, Kakeru, and Masaru wouldn't have left her without leaving a note. As she searched her bedside table, she found what she was looking for. "Yeah!" Hikaru read the note carefully. It said that she had a green- stick fracture in her left arm, and that if she really, really wanted to, she could finish her training with Satoru if she took it slow.  
  
"Green-stick fracture?", she asked herself. She thought back to her more recent health classes; they'd been talking about fractures and tears. Upon remembering what a green-stick fracture was, she concluded her decision aloud.  
  
"If I have a green-stick fracture, that means I have a crack in my bone. Well, at least it doesn't seem to serious to me, and it's in not in my dominant arm. I guess I'll finish my training."  
  
She ran out of her room, and into the equipment room two doors down the hall. After quickly but carefully inspecting her equipment, she put it on. Then, she grabbed her best bokken, which she had used earlier that day while fighting Satoru. Then, she raced out to the training center in the Dojo. In the Shidou Dojo, there were seven huge sections in the training center alone. Each section was divided into various numbers of rooms or sub- sections. All of these seven major sections used to be for public use, but the Shidou family changed, and so did the Shidou Dojo.  
  
More recently, two sections were for public use, one section was for Satoru, one section was for Masaru, one section was for Kakeru, and the two largest sections were for Hikaru's parents. As for Hikaru, she either used the public sections, or, when they were around, she trained with her parents in their section. However, more recently, Hikaru's parents had decided that she, too, deserved a section. So, they gave Hikaru one of their sections to have as her own. Hikaru clearly remembered all this as she half slid and half ran down the smooth-floored halls. She finally turned around the corner and into the hall that led to her section. She reached her section, and from there, she went to her favorite room, for she knew that her brothers would be there.  
  
As she slid open the doors to her special room, she was greeted by her the sight of her three brothers at the far end of the room, near a small scenic garden that Hikaru had put there. Masaru and Kakeru looked up as they heard the doors open, and they both sweat-dropped. Then, they turned around to glare at Satoru.  
  
"We told you so," they mouthed angrily at Satoru, who just simply nodded his head in response. Hikaru sweat-dropped, understanding what her brothers meant. Knowing them, she could tell that Satoru had written the letter, and Masaru and Kakeru were angry at him for letting her decide that she wanted to continue that day's training, for they knew that she would. 'Oh, brother...*sigh*..literally,' Hikaru thought in her head. "Well, judging from all the dirty looks Satoru is getting, you know why I'm here," she said as she took her place on the other end of the room.  
  
"Yeah, you bet we do," muttered Kakeru through gritted teeth. "Yeah...are you sure you still want to train? I mean, jeez, Hikaru, doesn't your arm hurt?" "At all?" Masaru finished.  
  
"It's fine!" Hikaru said with a little giggle. "Are you sure your arm just isn't numb from so much pain?" Kakeru asked her as he and Masaru cast quick little glances at Satoru again.  
  
This time, Hikaru laughed out loud. Just as she had suspected, her brothers were going into overdrive with their protective mode. Not to mention with their glares at Satoru as well.  
  
"I'm sure, so don't worry, you two," she said, still laughing a bit. When she stopped laughing, she got into a fighting stance on her side of the room. Satoru got up and got into a fighting stance as well. Masaru and Kakeru finally gave up on worrying and gave their older brother apologetic glances. Then, Masaru walked to the sideline, and Kakeru walked to the middle of the room.  
  
"Fighters, bow to your opponent."  
  
Hikaru and Satoru bowed to each other with their hands folded, and Hikaru gave a quick nod to her brother. "Are the two challengers ready to fight?" He questioned. "Hai!" Hikaru responded. From her tone, it was obvious that she had enthusiasm, and wanted to do well. "Hai." Satoru answered with a flat tone. "Then, let the fight commence!"  
  
The battle was on.  
  
Back at the park, Umi and Fuu were walking around a small woodsy area of the park. It was a very beautiful place, especially today, with the sun shining through the foliage, making splotchy shadows on the ground. As Umi and Fuu walked, they chatted about what had been going on since last month, when they last met up.  
  
"...So, Umi, you're a local model now?" "Yeah! Isn't that great?" "Hai,.." Fuu replied. Then, though she meant to say it to herself, Fuu quietly sighed, "..I guess."  
  
"Huh...!? Hey Fuu.." Umi gently implied, "Now don't get me wrong; I'm not being stuck up or begging to be showered with praise or anything. But Fuu, I really thought you'd be happy for me...". Umi looked slightly sad, but that was mostly covered up by the worried look that now spread across her face. "Is something wrong, Fuu? Did something bad happen? Does it have something to do with that professional software company that you somehow managed to get into?"  
  
Fuu had only been partially listening, but she lifted her head when Umi asked about the software company. "Huh? Oh, no, it isn't anything like that. Don't worry." She smiled at Umi.  
  
"You know, Fuu? That reminds me..I still don't get how you got into that professional software company. I'm not saying that I think that you're stupid, or don't qualify, but..."  
  
"I know, I think about that myself. It's like a miracle that I got into that company. I told them they had the wrong person, but they insisted that I'd fit right into their company, so I finally gave in."  
  
"Yeah? That's good, Fuu."  
  
There was a brief pause. "Fuu?"  
  
"Yes?" "What was it that made you sad a minute before? You know, when I was telling you about my new job?"  
  
"Oh that? Well, it's just that..well...any idiot knows that you're pretty, Umi, especially the guys. And that's good, right? But if you are a local model now, you're bound to move on to be a world-wide model. And then.then you.."  
  
"Then I wouldn't be around, and I wouldn't see you or Hikaru anymore," Umi flatly finished. "I understand what you were thinking Fuu, but don't worry!" Umi said, looking at Fuu and smiling. "I wouldn't want to be a national model anyway; I'd miss my family and friends too much."  
  
"Oh! That's good, then!"  
  
"Yeah." Umi suddenly got a sly grin on her face. "Plus, I wouldn't travel because I wouldn't be able to know when you or Hikaru would go to Cephiro!" "Yes, Umi; usually we all tell each other when we're going to go there. Also, we usually don't go separately, anyway. And you can't go separately until you bring back an item from Cephiro." "Uh-huh!"  
  
The two girls fell into a deep silence. Suddenly Umi snapped her head up and gasped.  
  
"Oh my gosh! We totally forgot!"  
  
"Gomen?" said Fuu, looking slightly confused.  
  
"We have to meet Hikaru at the fountain, remember?! We came on this walk in the first place because we were early, and we were walking off the time till we had to meet her!"  
  
Fuu looked at her watch and nodded at Umi "You're right! It's already 2:37 and we told Hikaru we'd meet her at 2:40!"  
  
The two Magic Knights started running on the paths in the woods that led to the fountain that few people knew about. Those who did were lucky; it was very peaceful there. There were not many people who came there, because few knew it even existed, so therefore, it was not very noisy there either. Hikaru had been the person who found it; she had gotten lost in the woods, even though she was mapping what paths she took. Then, she came to a small circle where there was no trees. She saw a kind old sage building a fountain. He told her not to tell many people about it, and she kept her promise. She only told Umi, Fuu, and a couple other friends of hers. A few people found it on their own, but the paths could somehow only be seen by those people. Ever since then, Umi, Fuu, and Hikaru always met there when they went to the park.  
  
When Umi and Fuu arrived at the fountain, they were somewhat relieved to find that she was not there. They knew that she hadn't come yet, because if she had, and she left the fountain area, she always left a flower in the fountain. And there wasn't a flower in the fountain, except for the cherry- tree blossoms, which fell off of the Japanese Weeping Cherry Tree that grew right next to the fountain.  
  
"Well, at least we aren't too late to meet her," panted Fuu as she and Umi sat down underneath the Weeping Cherry Tree, thankful that they could rest. They then took the time to look around the area. There weren't many people there, just a boy, his husky, and two women who looked like they were twenty-one.  
  
"Hey, let's go sit by the fountain, Fuu," Umi suggested. "All right," Fuu agreed.  
  
They walked over to the left side of the fountain, where the Cherry Tree began to hover over it. Just as they were sitting down, three girls walked in from behind the Cherry Tree. They seemed to be good friends, as they were walking in a straight line, one next to the other, next to the other. As they walked past to sit on the right side of the fountain, the two Magic Knights couldn't help but notice them; it was just that there was something about them..maybe their obvious friendship reminded Umi and Fuu of the friendship that they shared with each other, and with Hikaru....  
  
The left girl of the three had reddish hair that reached down a bit below her shoulders. She seemed to have skin that had a nice bronze tone to it. Her body was well built, and she seemed like she was hiding some strength beneath her good looks. All together, she was very pretty. She did a little twirl before sitting on the right side of the fountain. "She's probably good at dancing," whispered Fuu to Umi. "Yeah, she probably is,...she reminds me of Tarta and Tatra." Umi whispered. "You're right, Umi! She reminds me of them too!" Fuu squeaked back. Umi was right; she resembled the Chizetan princesses a lot.  
  
The girl on the right side was a black. She was beautiful, just like the girl on the left. She was tall and thin, and had an almost royal look to her. She had beautiful, long black hair, which gently flowed around her with every step she took. Her eyes were an aqua green, which made her look very stunning. She had a fragile air to her, but Umi and Fuu could tell that she was fit, and her fragile look was obviously deceiving. "SHE reminds me of...*my gosh*! She resembles Princess Emeraude!" Fuu exclaimed under her breath, as Umi silently yet vigorously nodded in agreement.  
  
Finally they came to the girl in the middle, who was just as beautiful as her two friends. She had a skin tone that had a tiny hint of a tan color. Her hair was a golden blond, and it came down an inch or two below her shoulders. It shone like the sun, and added to her appearance. She had a good body as well; obviously she was physically fit. Her eyes were a beautiful crystal blue. She walked with confidence to the fountain before she took her seat amongst her friends.  
  
Umi and Fuu looked at each other for a moment, and then they sighed and relaxed. Fuu got up and walked to the base of a Japanese Willow, which was directly opposite the three newcomers. She then sat down and relaxed, eyes closed. Umi walked along some stairs that were by the fountain. The clear stairs were made out of crystal, so you could see through them. This was because they wound around the base of the fountain for a little bit, and then, they went into the fountain. This fountain was actually made up of several fan-like fountains, which made a circle of water that was hard to see through. People sometimes swam in the pool that was in the center. Others sat in the three chairs that were lined at every 1/3 of the fountain's inner perimeter. Umi was going to do just that: sit in one of the chairs. Without knowing it, she sat in the chair behind the part of the fountain with the ledge that the three girls were sitting on. When Umi and Fuu both realized that they could hear the girls, they couldn't help but overhear their conversations.  
  
They were talking in normal tones, but they seemed as though they were troubled; it was as if they were trying to figure something out, and quickly, for that matter. There was a hint of that in their voices.  
  
The blond girl had something in her hand; since Umi was on the inside of the fountain, she could tell what it was. It was a yearbook from the school that Hikaru went to.  
  
"I know that it's in here somewhere! It's just got to be in here!" exclaimed the blond. She was frantically flipping through the pages, obviously searching for something, or someone.  
  
"Hey Yunari? Are you sure that you've seen this girl once?" asked the girl with the bronze hair.  
  
"ONCE!? She's in my class, Shira!" replied Yunari.  
  
"What did you say her name was again?" questioned the girl with the black hair.  
  
By now, Fuu and Umi weren't really listening anymore. Umi was listening to the water from the fountain, Fuu was listening to the wind whispering through the branches of the Japanese Willow, and both girls were listening hopefully for the sounds of pounding footsteps; someone running. That would mark the arrival of Hikaru. But the Magic Knights' thoughts were interrupted by the words that next escaped the three girls' lips.  
  
"Her last name is Shidou. I'm sure of it. That was what the gold lettering on the fence said. Does that answer your question enough, Diamond?"  
  
"Yeah. So you said you heard a scream coming from her house?"  
  
"No. It came from the Dojo; from the inner area. I could tell because the scream echoed briefly."  
  
"So how do you know it wa." Diamond was cut off by a yelp of anguish and happiness.  
  
"HIKARU!" Yunari yelled rather loudly. Loud enough for to make Umi and Fuu snap their heads up and listen in.  
  
"What!?" Diamond said in surprise. "You mean she really is that girl from your class?" "Yeah. Her name is Hikaru Shidou! I remember now! And...oh SHIT!" Yunari just barely got the words out. "What is it, Yunari?" Shira got in the question before Diamond. Fuu and Umi leaned in a little so that they could hear better.  
  
"Oh, God no! You guys, you remember what she trains in?"  
  
"Yeah," Shira said, slightly puzzled by Yunari's change in attitude. "She does Kendo...."Her voice trailed off a little as she thought.  
  
"Right. And you usually train Kendo in Dojos. That scream had to be Hikaru's, I just know it. And it was coming from the Dojo..from the inner Dojo sections, where the family sections are. And right before the scream I heard a snap. That means..."  
  
Fuu quickly walked over to the fountain wall so she could hear their words clearly. Umi, on the other hand, tried leaning closer to the water so she could hear better. However, as she continued leaning in, she lost her balance, fell off her chair, and ended up sitting water-logged in the fountain. Luckily for her, no one had heard or seen her. She scrambled out and quickly ran along the fountain stair-paths so she could reach Fuu.  
  
"Oh my gosh." Shira froze up before she continued. "She probably was injured while training!"  
  
"Exactly!"  
  
"No wonder you were so dang worried, Yunari. You always put everyone before yourself!" sighed Diamond, shaking her head slowly. "Yeah, right," snorted Yunari. "Anyway, we better haul on off to Hikaru's house right smart qui.." Yunari said as she, Shira, and Diamond got up to leave. But before she could leave or finish her sentence, she was stopped by two restraining orders..  
  
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" Fuu and a soaking-wet Umi Ryuuzaki walked up and stood in front of the three girls. "You are going to see Hikaru?" "Yeah, we are," stated Yunari, standing up tall and proud, making it clear no one was going to stand in her way. "Well, then, we have to go with you," Umi said flatly. "Yes, Umi's right. We're friends of Hikaru's, and if she's injured..By the way, my name is Fuu Hououji. And this is Umi Ryuuzaki."  
  
"Oh, I'm..."  
  
"We know, we heard you talking with each other."  
  
"Oh..OK."  
  
The five girls ran off through the woods. They ran past the Cherry-Tree and through a *huge* Weeping Willow. This was where the secret path was. They literally ran *through* it. They ran through gardens and on paths until they reached the park entrance. They just made it in time to grab a bus, which they rode to Hikaru's. When they reached her home, they all jumped off the bus, ran up the driveway and into the Dojo, which had an open door to a room in which the sounds of fighting could be heard. With Umi and Fuu in the lead, the party of five skidded to a halt at the entrance of the room, only to run into Hikaru, who was on her way out.  
  
"AH!" Hikaru yelped as Umi slammed into her, hitting her injured arm and knocking her to the ground. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING, OH INJURED ONE?" yelled Umi in Hikaru's face. "Gee, don't be so harsh on her Umi, she's hurt," Yunari quelled. The five girls entered the room, and as Yunari helped Hikaru up on her feet, they all observed the scene in the room. Satoru, Masaru, and Kakeru were all staring at a broken bokken on the floor, their mouths agape. Hikaru's armor was flung on the floor, and her bokken was carelessly thrown aside. Hikaru had obviously run to the locker room in the back and changed, because she was wearing her spring school attire.  
  
"I was just coming to meet you guys; I'd totally forgotten about how we were gonna' meet up. Now, come on; we have to catch that bus that I got for us. You know, the one that's going to take us to the main park over by the tower. Have you two got your stuff?"  
  
"WHAT?" Umi was screeching so loud that she could have broken a crystal mirror. "You're hurt, Hikaru! You can't just run off now! You need rest, and care, and."  
  
"Hey, give her a break, Umi. She's obviously fine if she broke that bokken in half. That's the strongest kind you can have. And also, if you look at her arm, it seems to be mending quite well, and quickly, for that matter. "  
  
Everyone turned and stared at Yunari. Their jaws dropped slightly. Then, they briefly turned their gazes on Hikaru. Then they looked back at Yunari.  
  
"Yunari? Since when did you know about all this? Shira, did you know she knew this?"  
  
"Nope!"  
  
"What do you guys mean? Do you think I'm that stupid? I train in Kendo, you know."  
  
"Yu.nar..i?"  
  
"Yeah, Hikaru?"  
  
"You're my friend from class?"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
"Oh, it's good to see you...but what ARE you all doing here?"  
  
"WELL, Hikaru," Umi began, "we're all here on behalf of this bright little friend of yours, Yunari. By the way, you never told Fuu and I about her."  
  
"We're more acquaintances?" Yunari guessed.  
  
"No! It's not that! We are friends, it's just that I never really thought of telling you about Umi and Fuu, or telling them about you, that's all. By the way, are we going to go or what?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, we got are stuff; you just take it easy on that arm, you hear me Hikaru? 'Cause I know you can act like you never heard a thing that Fuu or I said, you've done it before, especially in Cephiro, and usually about..."  
  
"Oh, OK then, I guess we should go now," Yunari said, interrupting Umi's tantrum as she got up and moved toward the door, signaling for Shira and Diamond to follow. Her two friends were investigating the pretty little gardens that surrounded the inside walls of the room.  
  
Finally, just as Yunari and her friends were organized and ready to go, a restraining order once again blocked their paths.  
  
"Hold up you three; Hikaru?"  
  
"Yeah, Umi?"  
  
"These fellow-teenage-girls of ours seem nice enough; do you think they could come with us and sleep over too?"  
  
Shira, Diamond, and Yunari all dropped their jaws, and their eyes popped.  
  
"Yeah, I don't see why not; I do know Yunari, anyway, and her friends are in my gym class, so it's OK!"  
  
By now, Hikaru's brothers were sick of hearing the girls talk, so they left the Dojo.  
  
"You're kidding, right?" asked Yunari, mouth open still.  
  
"No! Now let's go call your parents, and Shira and Diamond's, too!" Hikaru said in her normal, cheery voice.  
  
The girls all got up to leave, and as they did so they didn't notice that the water in the garden stream was glowing...  
  
The girls started walking out, but before they even got a yard, the garden- training room suddenly dissappeared, giving way to nothing but blue skies. Far below the area the girls were falling in, a volcano, an ocean, and a mountain floating in the sky were visible... 


	2. Level 51: Finding Old ComradesThe Master...

Magic Knight Rayearth 3 Chapter 2  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"  
  
Six beautiful teens went spiraling through the air. However, four of the girls weren't screaming because of fright at the moment. They were screaming about one of the few flaws in their beauty....  
  
"I'M GONNA ASK YOU ONE MORE TIME, UMI..YOU WOULDN'T HAPPEN TO HAVE ANY HAIR- BANDS, HEAD-BANDS, OR SCUUH-RUUNNNNCH-AYS ON HAND NOW, WOULD YOU?"  
  
"NOPE, WHY, SHIRA?"  
  
"BECAUSE MY HAIR IS KILLING ME! LITERALLY! IT'S WHIPPING ME!"  
  
"I'D HAVE TO SAY THAT GOES FOR ME TOO, UMI!"  
  
"WHA DA YA MEAN, HIKARU? YOU...OHHHHHH MY GOSH! I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE THAT YOUR HAIR WAS DOWN!"  
  
"WELL, NOW YOU ARE WELL EQUIPPED WITH THAT INFORMATION!" Diamond shrieked, partially laughing while she screamed.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! GIANT FLYING FISH-EEES! AT THREE O'CLOCK! ..BELOW US!", Yunari screamed unnaturally high, reminding everyone of their current problems.  
  
"IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S GOING TO CATCH US!" Hikaru yelled. "Actually," she began talking lower, "it kind of reminds me of ..FyulAAAAAH!"  
  
Hikaru's sentence ended in a cry of pain as she landed on the all-too familiar fish.  
  
"HIKARU!" All of the girls "ran" along the length of the flying creature. As they reached Hikaru, Shira gently helped Hikaru sit up, and Fuu lightly gripped her shoulders to keep her from falling.  
  
"Thanks..you..rrh..you guys," Hikaru said through gritted teeth.  
  
"No problem!" Shira gently replied, smiling brightly at Hikaru. "We never really did talk in gym class; if only our dang teacher would let us talk..."  
  
"Where in the hay are we?" Diamond pondered aloud.  
  
"It almost looks like a real-life version of that weird website; 'I-Love-To- Draw-Cute-Smiley-Fishies.Com'," Yunari stated blankly as she stared off at the sea, the floating mountain, the volcano, and the sky.  
  
Hikaru laughed before continuing as best she could. "That's what I was saying before I...bruised my arm. This has got to be Fyula, and you know what that means, don't you Umi, Fuu?"  
  
"..... CEPHIRO!"  
  
The two Knights cried out the magical name simultaneously. As they did so, a spot on the front pocket of Yunari's fuku began to glow. "What the..Cephiro?..." Her voice trailed off, but then she yelped as she noticed her pocket glowing with a bright yellow aura. "AHHHHH!" The pocket suddenly opened and released a necklace. "MY GOSH....MY GRAND-FATHER'S GIFT...THE DRAGON-TALON NECKLACE! But...How did it get here? I'd never had it before, or even SEEN it!?"  
  
All the girls stared as the necklace slowly floated over to Yunari's now out-stretched right hand. "And..it has a WOLF FANG on it as well?" Yunari clasped her hand closed over the still- glowing necklace. Then, after a moment's pause, she put it on. As soon as she did, however, their ride came to an end with a jolt as they were all dropped off on a ledge.  
  
"*Why* does it always begin this way?" Umi sighed, shaking her head. "Good question," Fuu replied in answer.  
  
"Hey Yunari?" "Yeah Hikaru?" "Is there something special about that necklace?"  
  
"Oh, yeah..In my family, there is a legend of a magical galaxy called Mah- taye. There are many planets in it, but there are four that dominate over the rest. My grand-father said that one of the people in my family would one day go there...that they would arrive in the dominant planet Cephiro.." Yunari was cut off by the Magic Knights' gasps of shock.  
  
"Cephiro was to be the place of the destiny of this chosen person from family. Then, my grand-father turned and winked at me, saying that I would soon find *my* destiny..and he whispered something to me about he had a gift for me that he would give me soon..something like a necklace with a dragon talon....That was four years ago. My grand-father has since passed away."  
  
"Oh.I'm sorry about your grandfather," sighed Hikaru.  
  
"Oh, no! It's OK! He's moved on to a better place."  
  
"Well if that's how you look at it...".  
  
Yunari laughed for a moment, and then she paused to take a look around. "So, this is Cephiro, huh?"  
  
Umi nodded. "As far as we can tell, it is. Where else do you find a huge volcano, a beautiful ocean, AND a floating mountain all in the same place. Not to mention huge animals known as Rune-God."  
  
"You mean that all of those magical things exist too??!!"  
  
Yunari had just finished her sentence when, right on Que., a huge monster burst out of the ground, roaring loudly.  
  
"RUN FOR IT!" yelled a Chibi-Neko Yunari and a Chibi Diamond and Shira.  
  
"No, wait! Umi, Fuu and I can deal with it, can't we, you two?" Hikaru grinned as she looked at the monster. "We already know how to use magic."  
  
"No we..oh, wait, YES, we DO!" Umi concluded."  
  
"Ready Umi? Fuu?"  
  
"Ready!"  
  
"Flame..."  
  
"Water..."  
  
"Emerald..."  
  
"ARROW/ DRAGON/ TYPHOON!" All three Magic Knights attacked the monster simultaneously. Their attacks hit the monster hard, and tore it to shreds.  
  
"Yeah!" The three girls high-fived while Shira and Diamond just stared, astonished at what they had just witnessed. Yunari walked over near the edge of the ledge, then turned to face the forest. (A.N.- It rhymes! ^_^```)  
  
"I didn't know that you knew magic, Hikaru!" Shira exclaimed. "Neither did I!" Diamond added.  
  
"You mean you knew that magic existed?" Hikaru looked somewhat surprised. "Well, I believed in it, but still.." Shira went on. The Knights, Shira, and Diamond started talking and celebrating their defeat of the monster. Yunari, on the other hand, was standing straight up, muscles tightened. She looked very alert, and seemed to be straining to see or hear something. She seemed to notice something that the others didn't. Fuu was the first person to notice this.  
  
"Yunari, are you OK?" The other girls stopped talking.  
  
"Yeah, Yunari, why aren't you talking?" Diamond questioned.  
  
Hikaru became aware of what Yunari sensed. "Is something..wrong?" she asked warily. Yunari didn't answer at first; she simply nodded her head. Hikaru walked over to where she stood. The other girls stared for a moment, and then they went back to their previous conversations of the defeat of the monster, and of the hair bands that they so badly needed.  
  
Yunari made sure that the others weren't listening. Then, she began talking quietly. "Do you hear that noise?" "What noise?" Hikaru looked slightly puzzled. "It kinda sounds like distant thunder. But it isn't. I know that." "How can you tell what it might be? I can't even hear it!" Yunari sighed before continuing. "I have this sort of sense that tells me when it's a storm that's coming. I don't know why; I just am really informed about the weather, and I am in tune with the weather, too. Plus, since when does thunder literally roar angrily?" Yunari added after a faint roar was heard in the distance. Hikaru's eyes widened. "That was a monster! Are you saying you can hear that thing coming?" "Yeah," Yunari replied, muscles tightening even more.  
  
The monster's roar was heard again. It was obvious now that it was approaching, because even Umi, Fuu, Shira, and Diamond could hear it this time.  
  
"Oh, crap!" Shira whined. "Not another one!" The others added their complaints as well, and they began to worry. "What if it attacks us?" wondered Umi.  
  
"It is going to attack us." The four girls looked over to see Hikaru and Yunari walking back towards them. As they joined the group, a white bouncing fluff-ball jumped into their midst.  
  
"Mokona?!" cried Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu.  
  
"Pu Pu Puu!" was the living marshmallow-rabbit's reply.  
  
"It's so good to see you!" squealed Umi as she picked up Mokona and gave him a little hug.  
  
Hikaru and Fuu just stared at her. "Since when do you like Mokona so much, Umi?" Fuu asked wonderingly. "Oh, well, I thought it over when I got back to Tokyo, and I realized I missed this little fuzz-ball just as much as everyone else. No matter how annoying he is," Umi added as an afterthought.  
  
"Oh, OK..heh heh." Fuu gave Umi looks that said "you're crazy" while Hikaru explained how much Umi had hated Mokona before. When she was done, Diamond, Shira, and Yunari all gave her crazy looks as well. However, soon after that, a crashing could be heard following huge footsteps. Hikaru prepared for battle, and so did Yunari, though she couldn't even figure out why. Abruptly, the crashing stopped.  
  
Everybody tensed up as they awaited the arrival of what seemed to sound like a monster. Umi was busily muttering under her breath, "I hope it's not a monster, please, let Yunari and Hikaru be wrong, I hope it's not a monster.."  
  
Here wishes weren't fulfilled, however, and a huge monster suddenly crashed through a few trees before standing in front of the six girls. It looked at them for a moment. They all stood very still. The monster didn't look harmful. It appeared to be a giant bull mixed with a turtle. It also had human-like arms that were covered with feathers. So, all in all, the only threatening things about were the two horns on it's head, and it's immense size. It actually looked like the last monster they defeated, only three times bigger.  
  
As the girls all shivered and shook, praying it wasn't going to attack, it bent down and looked them over with one giant eye. Then, it smelled the air around where they stood. Then, it picked up the scent of the defeated monster. It suddenly turned its head back to the girls, and it's eyes flared an angry orange. They had been green only a moment ago. It stood upright again, and looked down upon the six friends.  
  
"Uh, Hikaru?" Yunari whispered slowly. "Yeah?" Hikaru still was staring at the monster. "I think that monster we just defeated may have been this one's baby," Yunari said, shivering a bit. "That can't be good," Fuu said. The monster continued staring at them for a moment, and then it lifted its gaze towards the sky and roared. It then proceeded to bend down and begin chasing the girls, who started running as fast as their legs could carry them.  
  
"FUU! DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO STATE THE OBVIOUS AT TIMES LIKE THIS?!" screamed Umi at the top of her lungs.  
  
"Sorry!" Fuu yelled back, blushing slightly at her embarrassment.  
  
The girls kept running on the paths in the woods. They had no idea where they were going, but it seemed that they were just getting deeper in the forest. As they were running, Yunari suddenly yelled over to them, "I can hear the wind blowing on that path that curves up ahead. I think it sounds like a clearing is down that path!"  
  
Hikaru and the others looked surprised, but they nodded and turned onto the path when they got onto it. They expected to go even deeper in the woods, but to their surprise, sure enough, there was a clearing. However, it ruined their happiness when they discovered that the monster-mother had beaten them there.  
  
"Oh, GOD no!" shrieked Umi and Shira, while the others just stood and stared. As the monster began swooping down upon them all, Hikaru looked quickly to where Yunari had stopped. But she was not there. "Where's Yunari!" she cried.  
  
Just as the monster was about to stab them with it's horns and hooves.....  
  
"LIGHTNING.....ATTACK!"  
  
"WHAT!????!" cried the remaining teens at the same time.  
  
The monster was hit full on as bolts of lightning penetrated it's skin, piercing and electrocuting it until it's death.  
  
When the monster disappeared, a girl with blond hair jumped down from the air.  
  
"That can't be..!?"  
  
"What? Why are you all looking at me like I have two heads? Am I turning purple from monster blood or something?"  
  
"YUNARI!"  
  
"HOW DID YOU..?!"  
  
"YOU COULD'VE BEEN HURT!"  
  
Before the girls could dive on Yunari, she dodged out of the way, explaining as she ran.  
  
"I just knew I had to do something *pant pant*..so I thought real hard about it and suddenly I knew how to do that..that..MAGIC!"  
  
Just as the girls caught up to Yunari, and they were about to pounce on her, a holographic image of a tall man appeared from Mokona's jewel.  
  
"Magic Knights? Who is that with you?" They aren't intruders are you? And which one of you used a new kind of magic? If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have found you."  
  
Umi was the first to whip around.  
  
"CLEF!? YOU'RE.....TALLER?"  
  
Yes, I am. By the way, I know it's abrupt, but I must go for now. My Tiger- eagle should be there any moment..Look, there he is now! Goodbye!"  
  
"WAIT!" The Magic Knights' request was lost to thin air as Clef disappeared.  
  
"He's gone.."  
  
Oh well, let's get on his Tiger-eagle that's here." Diamond said as she crawled up the lowered wing of the friendly Tiger-eagle.  
  
The girls looked at each other, nodded, hopped on, and began their journey towards Clef, and safety..... 


	3. Level 52: A Legend AwakensRise, Knight O...

Magic Knights Rayearth Chapter 3  
  
"EARRRRRRRRRRRH!"  
  
The cry of the tiger-griffin rang through the air. Our heroines were sitting upon it's back, looking towards the now-visible castle. It grew larger and larger as they neared it, and finally, they landed in the upper opening of the gargantuan structure. As the girls hopped off, they stretched and looked around. They had been flying for one whole day, so as a result, they were very cramped up. After they stretched, they walked to a doorway in which Clef was standing.  
  
"I'm glad you girls have had a safe flight. There are some new flying monsters living in these areas. I was worried you wouldn't make it unharmed."  
  
"It's great to see you too, Clef!" Hikaru spoke happily.  
  
Umi smirked. "Yeah, Clef.......especially since you've grown!"  
  
"Heh heh heh," Clef blushed, scratching the back of his head as he sweatdropped. "Well, I decided that I liked my taller form better for......for many reasons." "Oh, OK, Clef," Fuu said, looking slyly at Umi. Clef began blushing even more when he realized Fuu understood more than he'd wanted her to. He saved himself as he changed the subject. "However, besides your well-timed arrival, I have something else we need to discuss.." Clef ushered the Magic Knights away from Shira, Diamond, and Yunari. He waited until they started discussing Cephiro. He then added with a whisper, "and that would be those three newcomers, " Clef added with a whisper. "You see, all three of them have very familiar auras. And not only that, but they are some of the most powerful ones I've ever felt in my life, and as you know, I've been living for quite some time now. The only people whose auras match theirs are the pillars, particularly Princess Emeraude, and you three. Also, your main Mah-tayian friends, i.e. your boyfre....*cough*...excuse me, Lantis, Sierra, Presea, Caldina, Ascot, Lafarga, Eagle, Ferio, and myself, as well as a few other people." Umi, Hikaru, and Fuu all gasped upon hearing this information.  
  
"But, Clef, why did you need to know which of them used mag..." Umi began. Before she could finish, though, he cut her off, answering her question in the process. "I need you to tell me which one of you defeated that monster using magic. It is very important that I get this information down. That magic is so familiar, though I don't know where or when from. It does seem recent..." Clef trailed off, lost in thought. He was brought back to the present when Hikaru pointed at Yunari and said, "She used magic. And from the appearance of it, I think it was like Lantis' magic- it was an attack made of lightning."  
  
Clef's head snapped up. 'Could it be.' he thought to himself. He walked over to Yunari. He was about to talk to her about her magic, when suddenly, his staff acted like it had near Umi, Hikaru, and Fuu...'when they got their armor,' Clef realized. Just the moment he did, the gem on the staff began glowing furiously. "What the." Clef began, as he noticed that Yunari was glowing as well. He and all the girls gasped and stepped away from her as what seemed to be magical bolts of electricity surrounded her now clothes-lacking body. "THUNDER MAGIC! Oh GOSH!" Every one of the girls stared at him for a moment. Clef's staff was, at that point, shaking and shuddering violently, and soon, Clef, Diamond, and Shira were the only people wearing clothing. This was because Hikaru, Fuu, and Umi had also gone clothes-less, surrounded by wisps of magic fire, wind, and water. In a moment or two, Umi Fuu, Hikaru, and Yunari gained their clothing back. The Knights had received their armor, too. But to everyone's surprise, they weren't alone armor-wise. Not only were Yunari's clothes back, but she had gained armor that resembled Hikaru's, Umi's, and Fuu's first-form of evolving armor. The only difference was that the gems on her armor were yellow in color. Immeadiately after the girls blinked and stared at the armor they had, Yunari's began glowing, as it evolved to the second form. And following a pause it evolved again and again until it reached the time for it to evolve into the final form. It didn't do that; instead, it turned into the armor the three Knights had had the second time the came to Cephiro. That was what they had now.  
  
Everyone in the room gaped at Yunari, who stood there, blinking helplessly. "I'm, sorry; did I do something wrong to make that happen?" she whimpered. "No, you didn't, but this means..What is your names you three? I mean the newcomers." Clef added before they could ask which three.  
  
"My name is Diamond Faye-tuyl."  
  
"I'm Shira Waytye, nice to meet you, uh...Clef, right?"  
  
"Yes, how did you..never mind. What's your name, Knight of Thunder?"  
  
"KNIGHT OF THUNDER?!" The girls all gasped. "Calm down," Clef said before the girls could kill him with questions.  
  
"I take it Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu have told you their stories. Yes, I will explain in a moment, but you are apparently a Magic Knight, otherwise my staff would not have provided you with armor. But first, what is your name?" Clef began to get impatient. "My name is Yunari Hie-sine."  
  
"Good. It's been nice meeting you. Now, I must tell you this so you understand. There are several versions of the Legend of the Magic Knights. Each has small variations in it that makes it even the least bit different from others. However, the correct ones all say that there are three or four Magic Knights. The most accurate one refers to four, in fact. Not directly, though. It mentions there being one for each of the major natural elements. I had always thought that there were four major elements; Wind, Water, Fire, and Thunder. And ruling over all those elements was the Earth element. But, I realized that Thunder was not a major element in Cephiro, so when I counted only three of you, I though the element of Thunder was not going to be counted in the Legend. That is what you need to know. Also, I know the three other Knights here have all had some relation with their element on Earth. Do you, Yunari?"  
  
"OH yeah, do I ever! I have this weird kinship-like relation with the weather. I also am sound-sensitive, which I guess relates to Thunder. I also have lots of..well, problems, with static electricity."  
  
"I see. Well, anyway, you seem to be a favorite person of my tiger-griffin. He's followed you over here," Clef said with a laugh as the tiger-griffin nodded his head and made it's cute little 'chrr' sounds. "Do you like him too, Yunari?"  
  
Yunari vigorously nodded her head up and down. "Yeah, I do too," Hikaru piped in. This time, Clef nodded, noting the two Knights' sincerity. "You two may take ownership of him, then. I cannot keep him in my staff all the time. He can go with you two, and then he'll get more space in your armor gems, or walking with you."  
  
"REALLY?!" exclaimed Hikaru and Yunari. They ran over to Clef and hugged him as he nodded 'yes'.  
  
"Oh, I think you're going to share rooms with your friends; we've renovated all the room to be large enough to accommodate four with extra room, but they're meant for two. You are friends, correct?" Clef asked cautiously.  
  
"Yes; from school. Umi and Fuu met them once at a party, as well,"  
  
"Good. Your rooms are in the same place last year. We're pairing you up for safety measures, and also because we don't have room for..huh? Hold on one minute, please," Clef requested as he turned to see Presea standing in the doorway. "What do you need, Presea?" All the rooms are done being built as you requested, Clef. I know, we got done fast, didn't we?" Presea grinned as she looked at Clef's astonished look.  
  
"Well, I better get going I..HIKARU?! UMI?! FUU?!" Presea ran over to them and they all hugged happily.  
  
"Presea?! It's great to see you!"  
  
"Who are these girls?"  
  
"Yunari Hie-sine."  
  
"Shira Waytye's the name!"  
  
"I'm known as Diamond Faye-tuyl."  
  
"WHAT? Did you say....Faye-tuyl?!" Presea looked shocked.  
  
"Yeah, why?"  
  
"YOU'RE A CEPHIRAN PRINCESS!"  
  
"WHAT!?" Diamond yelled loudly.  
  
"The Faye-tuyl family is a royal family in Cephiro. However, they all died out a while ago. One strain of the family made it to another world. You must be a descendant of that strain," Presea concluded. "Clef, you'll tell me about them later, right?" Diamond asked, now interested in her sudden discovery of family history.  
  
"Of course, Diamond."  
  
"Hopefully, you'll explain why there are four armor-clad girls, too?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Presea coughed and began again. "Good. Anyway, the whole gang's in the main ballroom, celebrating the disappearance of a Bull-Taurian Turtle-back. That's a huge monster. Clef left to say he wanted to find the source of the magic that destroyed it. The guys are waiting too..." Presea added slyly. "But before you go, I'll have you know that I'm not Presea. I'm sorry I'm telling you so abruptly, but Presea...died. When you thought she did, too. I was the person you saw last year. My name is Sierra. Presea and I are twin sister's. Anyway, Presea was brought back to life by the wave of life energy that followed Debonair's destruction. By the way, Hikaru? That same energy woke up Eagle, who's down at the party. Anyway, I'm sorry that I never told you...that I lied to you...it wasn't fair." A tear slipped down Sierra's cheek as she cried softly, in shame of how she had lied to the original Knights.  
  
"It's OK, Sierra," Fuu said as they all walked up to comfort her. "Look, let's all go to our rooms and change. Then we can hit the party. Hikaru, Umi and I can meet old friends while Yunari, Diamond and Shira make new ones."  
  
"That's a great idea, Fuu!" Shira exclaimed.  
  
"Yeah, I must say that it is," Umi agreed.  
  
"Let's go!" Hikaru concluded.  
  
They all got ready to run through the doorway; to high-tailed it for their rooms, Clef-provided maps in hands. Yunari took a moment, though, and she walked up and scratched the head of the tiger-griffin.  
  
"I think I'll call him Tataka. I really like names that end in 'ka', so please don't be bothered by it if it comes up later." The other girls slightly sweatdropped. "Well, that might explain things later, huh?" Fuu asked, glasses glazed over in white glare. (Lots of 'g' words! (^_~) )  
  
"Yeah, it sure will," Diamond laughed lightly.  
  
"Well, let's get going all ready!" Hikaru exclaimed impatiently, waving her arms in the air. The girls agreed and ran out, followed by Clef and Presea. However, none of them noticed the huge, hidden form standing beside Tataka. Eyes glinting, the animal spoke to Tataka through a dog-like growl, and then it darted off in a flash, jumping down from ledge to ledge before finally reaching the ground and bounding off to a huge nearby forest- like garden-oasis. 


	4. Level 53: A Dance And Reuniting With Fri...

Magic Knight Rayearth 3 Chapter 4  
  
The girls had walked to their rooms, guided by virtual maps Clef had provided them with. Once there, they each thoroughly bathed and changed into fresh clothes in their own *deluxe* bathrooms. (And lord do I mean DELUXE! Try two spa-baths and one massager-bath AND one shower and a few other neat things! ^_~; ). However, they still had plenty of time afterwards before the actual party actually began, so they decided on reacquainting themselves with each other, with Cephiro, and with the living beings of Cephiro.  
  
Diamond and Shira met each other in the hallways while looking at their maps. "Hey, Diamond? That you?" Shira asked rather puzzled. "Yeah, it's me. Who else would it be? Though I must admit, this dress does make me look better, huh?" "Oi! You always look nice, Diamond! That's just the way you are! And now we know one more reason why you are that way, huh? You sure you didn't know that you were a Cephiran Princess?" Shira asked. Diamond just made a face at Shira that said 'Duh! Of course I didn't!' Before Shira could make any comments, their conversation was interrupted by a some-what boastful voice coming from around a corner.  
  
"YES! I told you Hikaru would already be off to talk with her! I told you, I told you!" "Yes, well we don't actually know that she's talking with HER! For all we do know, she could've snuck out to the party area already!" The two people talking rounded the corner. To Diamond and Shira's surprise, the people turned out to be an extremely beautiful Umi and Fuu.  
  
Umi snorted in reply to Fuu's last comment. "Yeah right. She wouldn't bother breaking a rule the day she gets to the castle! But if you're right, I'll bet she's off talking with Lantis and Eagle. "  
  
Fuu smiled as she replied. "I'd have to say I can't argue with that." Her face fell into a slight frown. "But I do feel kinda bad for her. I mean, the poor thing's worried whether or not they even remember her, and if they don't.."  
  
".....Oh.....yeah, you're right." The grin disappeared from Umi's face. "Well, I hope that's not the case. It would break her heart if they didn't remember her at all. Especially after all they've...hey, it's....Shira?!" "And Diamond, too, Umi! Let's go meet them!"  
  
"HEY SHIRA! HEY DIAMOND!" Umi yelled out to them in friendly greeting.  
  
"HEY UMI, HEY FUU!" The two shouted back. Once they were close enough, they began talking in normal tones as they wandered through the halls. "Wow, you two look really pretty in those dresses, don't they Fuu?" "Yeah! Diamond, that dress makes you look like a princess even more than you already look like one! And Shira looks like a princess too....in fact..OH MY GOSH! Umi!" Fuu turned to look at Umi while she spoke. "They really do resemble those princesses now, don't they? You know, we should introduce them to those princesses tonight!..I mean, the Chizetan ones, anyway." Fuu bowed her head in respect as she thought of the death of the Pillar-Princess. Umi nodded and bowed her head as well. Shira finally broke the silence that followed.  
  
"Well, you know," she began, "you two look beautiful in those dresses too!" Umi and Fuu blushed slightly as Umi snorted "yeah right" under her breath. The four teens were soon looking at each others' new outfits.  
  
Diamond had on a beautiful gown. It wasn't poofy, but it did look like something royalty would wear. It flowed around her, just as did her hair.  
  
Shira was wearing a very beautiful Chizetan wardrobe. It looked exactly like Tatra's; however, it was creme baby blue and light creme orange instead of red and gold. She also had a sort of long, flowing skirt around the bottom half. This skirt-like thing flowed around her back half, and ended at each side.  
  
Umi had on her dragon-tamer outfit. The flowing scarf-like accessory was absent; she wasn't currently using it. (You'll see her wearing this outfit in the picture of her and Celeste where she's patting Celeste's head with one hand. She's very small compared to Celeste, who's in his normal dragon form.)  
  
Fuu had on a beautiful dress that looked somewhat like Presea's weapon- making gown. However, Fuu's had a normal top half with short sleeves. At the end of each sleeve was a light leaf-green trim.  
  
When they were done admiring each other's new looks, Fuu concluded that they go look for Hikaru and Yunari.  
  
"Hey, maybe that walking-white-marshmallow called Mokona could pull up his location map you told Shira and I about," Diamond suggested.  
  
"Hey, that might just work, Diamond!"  
  
With that, Mokona did as he'd heard he was to do. Four blinking lights represented them in the hallway, and two other lights revealed that Yunari and Hikaru were walking towards Yunari's room.  
  
"We have TWO bogies at 12:00," Umi said as she laughed. She then continued rubbing it in for Fuu. "We also have confirmation that Ms. Ryuuzaki has won the bet with Ms. Hououji!". "I give up, Umi; I give up, " Fuu sighed in defeat. Umi nodded in satisfaction, eyes closed, as she said "I told you so, Fuu."  
  
They all then began walking toward Yunari's room so as to intercept Hikaru and Yunari.  
  
Meanwhile, the two girls they were after were walking towards Yunari's room at a quick pace.  
  
"So, hold on a minute. You're saying you're in love with this guy called Lantis?"  
  
"Uh...NO, I'm not...in love....with Lantis, I just really like him. To me, he's like a.....a..." Hikaru paused as they walked into Yunari's room, and out onto her balcony. "A boyfriend?" Yunari smirked as Hikaru blushed furiously. "NO!....like a brother!".  
  
"SURE, Hikaru. Whatever you say. But that's not what Umi and Fuu will tell me ..." Hikaru blushed even more, but she used Yunari's question's to her own advantage. "Have YOU ever been in love with anybody?".  
  
Yunari turned and looked incredulously at Hikaru. "Earth to Ms. Shidou? Do I even LOOK suitable enough for any guy, let alone beautiful enough to attract one?". "Yeah, of course you're pretty! How could you possibly say that you're not beautiful; you ought to know you are!"  
  
Yunari cheeks turned a bright pink as she blushed in shame. "I'm probably pretty ugly, huh?"  
  
Hikaru looked stunned. "No, you're not!" she said gently. "Especially in that cool outfit, now that I think about it...which wardrobe closet did YOU look in? that's a really pretty dress!"  
  
"Oh...I got it out of the one that that beautiful princess named Princess Emeraude was using..."  
  
"Hold on a sec....what do you mean using? You don't mean you met Emeraude's spirit, do you?"  
  
"Oh, heck no! What have you been eating? Pure sugar? I met her in person...."  
  
Hikaru stepped back a pace, extremely stunned. "What do you mean?! She's dead, remember? We told you how we killed her to fulfill her wish, and now you're saying that.."  
  
"You're right! Holy rainbow trout!"  
  
"That must be some pretty damn good dinner!"  
  
The two girls turned around to see Umi, Diamond, Fuu, and Shira standing in the room.  
  
"Hey, I never saw a balcony in my room!" Fuu yelped.  
  
"Oh, there are buttons hidden in the rooms that open the path to them," Yunari explained.  
  
"What's Hikaru's problem?" Shira asked carefully, looking at Hikaru's shocked look.  
  
"Emm...Emeraude..," Hikaru sputtered.  
  
"What about Emeraude?" everyone but Yunari asked.  
  
"Emeraude's back....she's.....ALIVE.."  
  
"WHAT!?!"  
  
"I saw Emeraude....she was at her old wardrobe closet..that was the one where I'd been looking. She looked like a teenager again....and she saw me looking and said she had the perfect dress for me...and then she gave me this dress, which I don't really deserve...."  
  
"ARGH! You do too deserve it, Yunari-san, so stop saying you don't!"  
  
"But I..."  
  
" Hikaru's right, stop being so hard on yourself," Shira said calmly.  
  
"Anyway, where were you and Yunari, Hikaru? We've been looking all over this area of the castle for you two...." Umi, Fuu, and Hikaru began to talk. Shira and Diamond looked around the room with Yunari's permission, having not had a closer look at their own rooms. Yunari sighed. She began to walk back to the room with the other girls, but she suddenly stopped as she heard a soft howling from outside. Her eyes widened and she turned back and ran out to the balcony, looking down as she reached the edge. She then squinted as she looked in the darkened garden below. It didn't take long before a growling noise was heard, and Yunari directed her sights on the area the growl was coming from. As she looked on in amazement, a huge wolf- like creature stepped out from behind a beautiful flowering bush. Yunari, though frightened, couldn't help but feel that this animal knew her, and she knew it. Then, as soon as it had stepped out from behind the bush, it looked at Yunari once, and then it dashed off behind another tree. Yunari then sighed again as she stepped off the balcony, wondering who or what that creature was. But as soon as she reached the girls inside her room, a swishing sound was heard, followed by a soft pounding noise with a hint of a click. Yunari ignored it at first, but when the clicking seemed to come closer and then stop, she slowly turned around.  
  
When she turned, she was looking down, and she saw two huge white paws. Yunari then slowly pulled her head up, dragging her sights along the now clear animal that she had seen in the garden. She would have screamed in fear, had not the wolf-dog looked her straight in the eyes, and then bent his head for her to scratch it. Only one animal in the universe could ask to be scratched in such a slow, kind manner...  
  
"RAIAKA! It's YOU! But how did you get here? And how did ya get so dang BIG?! I mean, for crying out loud, you're the size of Princess Mononoke San's wolf brothers!" At this, the other girls turned around and yelped in fear, awe, and surprise.  
  
"That IS Raiaka!" Shira yelled.  
  
Before all the girls could talk about their wolf friend's arrival, they a knock sounded on the door.  
  
As Hikaru answered it, she saw that Presea (Yes the ACTUAL Presea) stood at the door.  
  
"You girls need to hurry! The party's started, and my sister and I were late getting here, because one of Ascot's monsters kinda stole Sierra, since she usually plays with him," Presea said quickly.  
  
"Right!"  
  
"All right then, I'll see you girls there!"  
  
Presea closed the doors, leaving behind six slightly nervous girls.  
  
"How will we get there on time?" Fuu asked.  
  
"Tataka will take us!"  
  
"Huh?" Hikaru asked. They all turned to see Yunari sitting on Tataka's back. "He offered for me to get up, and he said two of you can jump on, too!" Yunari happily announced.  
  
The girls nodded and jumped on happily. Tataka flew off, flying out the huge doors, followed by Raiaka running on the ground.  
  
"Looks like Karaka's coming too," Yunari laughed, watching Raiaka down below as he was joined by his brother, Karaka.  
  
Fuu sweatdropped. "I guess you were right when you said you liked names that ended in "ka". You have three already!"  
  
"Yeah, I guess so...heh heh," Yunari laughed and sweatdropped as well.  
  
At the doors to the party rooms, Tataka stopped and landed next to where Yunari's wolf-dogs were standing. As soon as Yunari hopped off, they licked her hand.  
  
"Stop it you guys, that tickles!!!" Yunari exclaimed, cracking up.  
  
"I know how you feel, Yunari. They do that to me when they come and visit and when I take care of them!" Hikaru said, laughing as she remembered that.  
  
"Well, we better go inside now, huh?" Shira suggested.  
  
"Oh, yeah.....we *might* just wanna do that," Fuu agreed.  
  
Before they could go to open the doors, the doors began opening by themselves. When the doors were halfway open, despite their desperate protests, Raiaka and Karaka were shooed off to the garden by Yunari.  
  
"I'll come get you after the party, OK? I promise. Otherwise I have to give you both expensive treats, all right? Good! See ya later!"  
  
Raiaka, Karaka, and Tataka all left for the garden as the girls, all beautifully dressed, walked through the open doors into a huge party room.  
  
As soon as they walked in, they couldn't believe their eyes. The dance floor was great enough, and huge, too. But there was a room with a pool and a hot tub in it, and there were gaming rooms as well.  
  
"Woah! It's awesome in here!" Umi squealed.  
  
Hikaru began to reply with a "Yeah," but she was cut off when two pairs of strong hands set themselves on her shoulders. Hikaru turned around slowly to find herself looking into the eyes of Lantis and Eagle. "Oh my...GOSH! You really ARE awake, Eagle!" she exclaimed happily as she threw her arms around the two of them.  
  
"I just came over to say hi, and I also wanted to meet your friends," Lantis said, and Eagle nodded in agreement.  
  
"Oh! Well, you know us, but this is Shira Waytye, the girl over there with the gold-blond hair is Yunari Hie-sine, and this girl is Diamond Faye-tul. Diamond is a Cephiran princess, and Yunari is the newest Magic Knight. Her element is Thunder."  
  
"Ask Clef for the details, though," Umi interrupted, " cause we came to party!"  
  
"All right, In that case, Hikaru, would you like to dance?"  
  
Hikaru blinked and looked at Lantis. "Me...dance...with you?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"OK..I guess. I'm not that good, though."  
  
"What do you mean?" Lantis looked really confused.  
  
"I mean...*sigh* I really suck at dancing."  
  
"HIKARU! That's a load !....Oh, heh heh...Sorry about my language," Yunari sweatdropped as a few people nearby stared at her for a moment.  
  
"*A-HEM!* Anyway, Yunari's right, Hikaru.." Umi began.  
  
"We've seen you dance before...." Fuu continued their "speech".  
  
"...Even though you didn't know we were watching...." Diamond kept it up.  
  
"...And we'd have to conclude that you dance very well," Shira concluded.  
  
"Uh...Heh heh.." Hikaru laughed a bit as she sweatdropped and scratched the back of her head. "I guess I could try to dance like I do at home."  
  
"Good. Now let's go," Lantis suggested. He literally picked her up by her shoulders, pulling her into one of the dance rooms, and as he did, Hikaru gained her cat tail and ears.  
  
Fuu laughed. "She actually looked like a cat in a way that time. It was a perfect moment to go cat-SD."  
  
"You know, you're right, Fuu!" Umi exclaimed. "You usually pick up a cat by it's shoulders, and that's exactly what Lantis did to her!"  
  
"You two told me she was real cute when she 14 and 15 years old. But she was probably even cuter in this instance!"  
  
"We'd have to agree with that," Fuu and Umi nodded at the same time. Then, they looked at each other and laughed. Shira started laughing as well, and soon they all were cracking up. After a while they looked from the bar-plex tables, trying to find Hikaru and Lantis. When they did find them, they saw that they were dancing with each other.  
  
"Awwww, how cute," Diamond sighed. However, their gazes were broken when four extremely handsome guys (Just the right height! ^_- ) stepped in front of them. The girls all turned around to find Ferio, Eagle, and Ascot, all of them still the little hotties they were. However, accompanying them was a taller and amazingly handsome Zazu Torque.  
  
"Hell-o chik-os. It's been a while."  
  
"OH MY GOSH!" Umi and Fuu yelled as they hugged everybody and greeted them warmly.  
  
"Can we ask you ladies to dance?" Ferio asked, for the all of the guys. Then, not waiting for a reply, he took Fuu's hand and he led her out to the dance floor.  
  
Eagle walked to Diamond, took her hand, and said softly, "You're very beautiful, you know?" As she looked into his eyes she knew that he meant it, so she followed him to the floor as well.  
  
Ascot had only to look into Umi's eyes and smile. She returned the favor, and then she hugged him, exclaiming, "It's been so long since I last saw you!" Her eyes filled with tears of joy as she continued. "I don't know why, but I really couldn't get you off my mind while I was gone. I was so worried something would happen to you, even though you are so darn strong."  
  
"It's all right, Umi. You're here now, and that's all that matters.....That was so darn un-creative!" Ascot said, suddenly ticked off at himself. "I should have said something ORIGINAL!"  
  
"Yeah, but I liked it." Umi smiled at him. "And it was really kawaii."  
  
Ascot blushed slightly as he smiled at Umi, somewhat speechless. "Thanks."  
  
He then led her out to dance.  
  
Zazu gently led Shira to the dance floor. They both wanted to dance with each other, even though they had only just met. They blushed as they caught themselves staring at each other, and for a moment they looked away.  
  
But soon, everyone was casting aside their shyness and their problems, and they settled into party mode.  
  
Even Yunari, though slightly downcast that she had not yet met a guy she loved (Possibly at first sight?), got into the party spirit. She went to the billiards room and she looked through an indoor window, watching her friends dancing as she played a round of billiards.  
  
And so the confusion was beginning to fade away, though all six girls knew it could have been just the beginning of it all. After all, they had a mission once more.  
  
But as Yunari thought, she became more upset that she wasn't liked...or possibly, *loved*, by any cute guys whom she liked back. She did see a couple nice ones that liked her, but when she went to dance with them, it felt like more of a friend kind-of relationship.  
  
She didn't want to bother her friends after she got so fed up with loneliness, so she went to exit the room. But just as she was leaving, she heard a voice in the doorway that was directed at her...  
  
"Hey wench. You're sexy tonight, but you look kind of lonely. What's your name?" 


	5. Level 54: The Possessed Wolf, A Prequel ...

Magic Knight Rayearth 3 Chapter 5  
  
Yunari froze with....well, an indescribable feeling she had. It was like that voice had something in it; something special that only she was allowed access to. She slowly lifted her head and her eyes finally rested on the eyes of another person. This person was an extremely hot/cute/handsome guy.  
  
"H.Hh..Hi," she just managed to breathe out. She tried to say more but, all else she could say was, "My name is..er, Yunari Hie-sine. Um.....what's your name?" She smiled weakly. She couldn't believe herself; it was so abrupt, but though she didn't know this guy, she already liked him. He seemed nice, anyway.  
  
"My name's Kaoru," he introduced himself politely, but his face was devoid of any emotions. She practically died. Lord he was HOT! "Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to talk and dance for a while?"  
  
"D-d-dance? I don't really.." She blushed before continuing. "I don't really know how to dance." Her face turned a hot red as he just smiled even more.  
  
"Then this must be your lucky day. I happen to be pretty good dancing, so I \can teach you how, huh? So," he finished, taking her hand. "Let's go."  
  
He was right; he WAS good at dancing. He knew how to dance to all styles of music. He could dance to techno, western, country, pop, hip-hop, jazz, romantic, classical, renaissance, Celtic, dance, party, rap, soft rock, rock, modern. He could dance to Japanese music, French music, Korean, Ukrainian, Chinese, Swedish, Flemish, German, Spanish, Mexican, American, African music, and much more. He could dance to slow, fast, and medium speed music. He could do funny dances, weird and wacky dances, stylish dances, and other types. So, as stated before, he was a very good dancer. EXTREMELY good. So good he even managed to turn Yunari from a non-dancer to a pro-dancer during about 40 minutes of dance music. He got her to dance to almost every type of music, in fact, even slow-dance music. By that time, she had to bury her face in his chest for fear people would see her scarlet face. Of course, that didn't help with her emotions; it just made her more nervous that people would know she liked him. She had talked with him as she learned to dance, and she found out that he was a really sweet guy. But she didn't want anyone to know she liked him, or that he told her he liked her. She figured that it was just to make her feel better.  
  
Anyway, it took quite a lot of convincing on Kaoru's part to get Yunari to slow dance with him. She didn't want anyone to know she liked him....ESPECIALLY *COUGH COUGH* Umi Ryuuzaki, because she was not one to keep good gossip material to herself. Yunari thought she was safe from prying eyes as she and Kaoru danced among the dark areas in the crowds. However, she was wrong; Hikaru and Lantis had caught a glimpse of them dancing together. They went to sit and spy on them from a balcony. There they could look upon the main dance floors inside, or look upon the gardens outside. Hikaru walked over to the balcony rail inside, and she leaned over the balcony a little as she looked down at Kaoru and Yunari. She smiled as she watched them, and then, still smiling, she turned to Lantis.  
  
"Aawwwwwww. Yunari looks embarrased. Even though I don't know that cute guy's personality, I think the two of them look really kawaii dancing together," Hikaru said. Then, she quickly elbowed Lantis as she saw a peculiar look of worry cross his face. "What's the matter, Lantis? Is something wrong?" Lantis sighed. 'She's as innocent as ever. I guess she didn't mean she liked him though.' "Nothing. Nothing is wrong at all." She giggled softly as she watched relief wash over his face. "You looked really funny the way your face was a second ago." He looked at her for a minute, and then he smiled. He was about to lean down and kiss her (though she didn't know that), but he was interrupted when he heard someone giggle behind them. Then, as Lantis and Hikaru turned to see who it was, someone else mockingly said, "AWWWW. Isn't that just PRECIOUS. What a roman-tic at- mos-phere!"  
  
Hikaru and Lantis finished turning around just in time to see Fuu and Ferio crack up. Lantis groaned inwardly, but Hikaru blushed furiously instead. Meanwhile, she gave Fuu and Ferio an evil yet sarcastic glare as she asked, "So what are YOU two up to then?  
  
"Just lookin' for OUR share of romance," Ferio replied, smirking as Fuu's cheeks turned a deep crimson red. This time Hikaru and Lantis laughed. Then, as they quieted down, they pulled up four chairs at the inside balcony rail. Fuu, Ferio, Hikaru and Lantis all took a seat. "What were you two looking at from up here?" Fuu asked curiously.  
  
"Oh, well...". Hikaru smiled again as she let her eyes travel to Kaoru and Yunari.  
  
Fuu followed her gaze and dropped her jaw when she saw the two dancing. "Is that Yunari? I though she said earlier that she couldn't dance and hated it anyway." she questioned as Hikaru laughed. "You bet it is. And she did say and mean what she said. But I think that guy there gave her an inspiration." Hikaru's laughter was soon replaced with a look of deep thought.  
  
"What is it, Hikaru?" Ferio asked her quietly, not wanting to disturb her too much.  
  
"I feel like we've met him before..." she replied, referring to Yunari's partner-in-dancing.  
  
Fuu then added her thoughts to the conversation. "Hikaru, you're right; he IS familiar!"  
  
There was a long pause before anyone spoke, but the next person who did was Ferio.  
  
"Come on, Fuu, let's go swimming before we open the pools up for the party animals."  
  
"O.K..See you later tonight, all right, Hikaru?" Fuu yelped as she was dragged towards the pools by Ferio.  
  
"All right!" Hikaru waved. As soon as Fuu and Ferio slipped out of sight, Lantis sighed with relief. 'At least Ferio can't bother or tease us anymore. Maybe now..' he thought to himself. He turned to *stare* at Hikaru, who had walked to the outside balcony. He had waited so long to see her again, and now that she was here, he wanted to see how she'd changed.  
  
Her hair was still the same length, but it looked smoother and silkier than ever. For the party, she had un-braided it, but she kept it in a ponytail. Her dress was phenomenal looking on her, and it added to her looks. As Lantis admired her profound beauty, he noticed that there was something else different; she had grown, and in many different ways. Not only had her body matured, but also, Lantis realized, she was TALLER. 'About as tall as Fuu,' he noted.  
  
When Lantis realized he'd been blabbing to himself again, he snapped himself out of it. Then, slowly but surely, he walked over to Hikaru. He stopped right behind her, and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and smiled brightly at him. It was then that Lantis realized she was holding the pendant-necklace he gave her. Hikaru looked back out at the garden, and then she closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the fountain. She was beginning to space out, but she suddenly snapped back, surprised, when two strong arms wrapped around her waist. She lifted her head to find herself looking into the mesmerizing, sharp blue eyes of Lantis.  
  
"Lantis...?" she breathed questioningly as she turned in his arms to face him.  
  
Lantis didn't reply. Instead, he looked out at the moon and the neighboring planets. "You're safe now," he finally said.  
  
Hikaru inwardly cracked a smile, and happily and gently, she buried her face in his chest. Even though he only had on his soft armor and he was weapon-less, she felt like nothing in the world could ever harm her when she was with him. On that note, Hikaru sighed and closed her eyes as she stood on the balcony, wrapped in the arms of the one she loved.  
  
~*~  
  
"Ferio, why are we going swimming before we open the pool?" Fuu asked.  
  
"Because it's ro-man-tic," Ferio replied, grinning as, once again, he caused Fuu's cheeks to boil. "And," he added, "because it's better to get in an early swim before the crowds come and clog the pool up."  
  
"Oh." Fuu looked at the floor.  
  
"All right then, be right back; I gotta change," Ferio cried as he sprinted to the men's locker rooms. Fuu shook her head, smiling, as she slipped off her to reveal her bathing suit underneath.  
  
When Ferio dashed back out to Fuu, he found her sitting in the by-pool garden. 'She looks beautiful...no; GORGEOUS,' he thought to himself. He then looked around to see how the construction had changed the pools.  
  
There were nine huge pools the size of Dorney Park's wave pool, all different sizes, shapes and depths, and all with a few tropical fish in them. Surrounding the pools were gardens, small winding rivers, and themed areas. The themes were a bamboo forest, a mountain spring, a waterfall, a cove, a beach, and a beautiful field. Anywhere else, the floor was covered in a soft Japanese moss. The pool room was huge, had no wall-windows, and had an all-window ceiling. Ferio was impressed.  
  
"Damn, they make things look so GOOD!" he murmured, and Fuu walked up to him as he spoke. Then Ferio turned to her. He gazed into her beautiful green eyes one moment before continuing to talk. "Did they work on you, too, Fuu?" he asked slyly. As she blushed and looked away, he lightly shoved her, sending her into one of the pool's deep ends. He laughed, but as soon as Fuu came back to the surface, she grabbed him by the ankles, pulling him into the water as well.  
  
"Huh?" Ferio smiled at her. "Well, I can't say I saw that coming."  
  
Fuu laughed lightly. Anyone who heard her would have pondered the beautiful voice. Then, Fuu hugged Ferio gently. She rested her head on his shoulder and breathed in his scent. He smelled like a fresh mint from the mint plants he took care of. Fuu didn't lose her head, but she could not deny that when Ferio hugged her back with his muscular arms, kissing her forehead and ruffling her hair, Fuu could barely contain herself. Finally, she kissed him back, gently at first, but then more passionately. Ferio was taken back at first, but then he too was more passionate. They parted and took a brief breath before brushing mouths again. This time, Ferio plucked up his courage and gently kissed her more and more.  
  
This bold move greatly surprised Fuu, but she didn't mind, and she followed suit. After a few more minutes of this, the young lovers crawled onto the mossy floor of the bamboo garden.  
  
"I love you, Ferio," Fuu whispered. Ferio turned and replied, "And I do too, and I always will; remember that." Fuu reddened, but not as much as she usually did. She snuggled closer to Ferio, who hugged her tight and nibbled gently on her ear.  
  
"Ferio, that tickles," Fuu giggled, before relaxing in his strong grip. She was about to fall asleep when Ferio suddenly got up and walked towards the doors. "What are you doing?"  
  
"I'm opening the pool, Fuu!"  
  
Fuu sweatdropped and fell over as he let the people in, and then jumped in the pool as he joined her once again.  
  
~*~  
  
Diamond felt a feeling of love. It was so abrupt. She knew that Shira had it more seriously. Diamond had seen the looks on Shira and Zazu's faces. It was love at first sight third-degree-burn style. Nonetheless, Diamond knew she liked Eagle. A LOT. She felt like they were destined to be together. 'Either that, or I'm crazy,' she concluded. She snapped out of her thoughts, however, when Eagle suddenly pressed his body extremely close to hers. She gasped and squeaked, and Eagle looked at her. Kindly, yet worriedly, he asked, "What's wrong? Are you O.K.? Did I hurt you? Did I go over-board? Did I..."  
  
He was silenced by one of Diamond's fingers pressed to his mouth. "You're going overboard now," Diamond laughed softly. "You had just surprised me, that's all."  
  
"Oh." 'If that's all I did, then I guess she won't mind if I hug her. Dang, I'm cheesy,' Eagle thought to himself as he gave her a quick hug. He didn't expect anything in return, but to his surprise, Diamond returned the favor.  
  
Eagle sighed in relief. "You know, you're a good dancer," he complimented.  
  
"You are too," Diamond replied, nodding thoughtfully.  
  
Eagle sighed again and hugged her even closer as they continued dancing throughout the night.  
  
~*~  
  
Shira and Zazu were hitting it off. As soon as they had reached the dance floor they had introduced themselves. Then, Zazu had politely kissed Shira's forehead, and Shira had politely kissed his cheek. After some vivid dancing, the couple caught the attention of the crowd. They all clapped and cheered as Umi and Clef suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere and danced with Shira and Zazu. They spun, tapped, twisted, and twirled until the end of the song. It was Dirty Vegas' "Days go By", which really surprised Umi and Shira; since when was there Earth stuff on Cephiro? Clef quickly calmed them, however, and explained that lots of Mah-tayians traveled to Earth, and lots of Earth inhabitants traveled to Cephiro. Not too many, but enough.  
  
"Gee, that's new," Umi said, blinking rapidly.  
  
"Yeah," Shira agreed, nodding her head.  
  
"Hey is that Princess Diamond?" Clef asked Umi curiously.  
  
"Yeah, that's prit'y princess numero two!" yelled a voice with a southern accent..  
  
"Umi, it has been awhile since we last saw you," a deeper voice stated. Umi then looked up to find herself face to face with Lafarga. She hugged him for a moment, but suddenly she was shoved away. As Umi fell and gained her own Chibi form, Caldina ran over and hugged her.  
  
"Caldina?! Shish. Now I know how Hikaru always felt, especially in the bath incident!" Umi exclaimed.  
  
"Oops. Heh, sorry 'bout that, Umi. Oh, by the way, have you met Mitaro yet?"  
  
Umi blinked and took a deep breath and Caldina refrained from hugging her. "Huh? Who's Mitaro? And have you met my friends? This is Shira Waytye," she continued. "Oh, I met Diamond, and I...did you say...S..Sh...SHIRA WA.WAY- TYE?!!!!!?" Caldina suddenly took off, practically knocking over Ascot, who was approaching with a small baby in his arms. "Be back in a sec, missies!" Caldina shouted as she sped off.  
  
Ascot carefully stepped forward and carefully held the baby out. It had short, spiky blond hair and soft blue eyes.  
  
"THIS is Mitaro; He's Caldina and Lafarga's son," Ascot explained as he gently handed Mitaro to Umi.  
  
She carefully cradled him and rocked him to sleep when he woke up. (She put him back to sleep in a second flat).  
  
"You know, you'd make a good mother if you and Clef ever got married when you were older," Ascot sighed/whispered.  
  
"Ascot?" Umi handed Mitaro to Shira. "Are you okay? I heard rumors that you liked someone but couldn't tell the person that you liked them. Are you all right?"  
  
"Oh, yeah," Ascot blushed. "I have to admit you still enthrall me Umi, beautiful Water Goddess and Dragon Tamer." This time it was Umi's turn to blush. "Arigato," she said. "Gomen if this hurts you, but I've fallen in love with Tatra." He then blushed as Umi giggled, "Well, speak of the lover!" For walking, or more correctly, running towards them were Caldina, Tatra and Tarta.  
  
"Umi!" Tarta exclaimed as she and her sister ran forward and high-fived Umi. "How have you been? Are you nicer yet, or are you still a brat?!" Umi asked as she laughed when Tarta reddened a bit. "Yeah, I'm BETTER now, I don't have "spazz outs" nearly as much as I used to," she admitted. "Hey, Ascot? After I talk with Shira can we dance?" Tatra asked, and Ascot nodded. "Gomen nasai, but I MUST talk to Shira first." She turned to Shira and Caldina walked over. "Hasn't she grown so much?" she asked Tatra. "Yes, I must admit, I can see she had grown, though I only last saw her when I was little, and when she was a little, cute, cuddly baby!" Tatra added. Then, she scared the daylights out of Shira when she suddenly hugged her and exclaimed, "I'm glad to see you little sister!"  
  
"WHAT? YOU TWO ARE MY...MY SISTERS???!!!!" Shira shouted. "I knew my parents were hiding SOMETHING from me, but this?!!! Though, I do have memories of you..good, happy memories," Shira cried, tears streaming down her cheeks.  
  
"Same for you," soothed Tarta, as the three sisters hugged in a happy reunion.  
  
"You know that you're a Chizetan princess, then?" Tatra asked.  
  
"I am?" Shira managed to choke out.  
  
"Yes. So be careful no mobs run you over," Tarta smirked and walked towards the gaming room.  
  
Suddenly Presea walked in, motioning for the remaining group to follow.  
  
"Hey, why are you in your bathing suit, Presea?" Umi asked curiously, amazed at Presea's ever-staying beauty.  
  
"Because we're all hitting the pool, missy!" Caldina exclaimed.  
  
"Cool! Shira yelled. She had accidentally yelled loud enough to make people clear out of their way, but that was good, because they could move faster.  
  
~*~  
  
Meanwhile, Yunari and Kaoru had unknowingly gone onto the same balcony that was occupied by Hikaru and Lantis, who were sitting inside on the chairs at the rail. Neither couples had noted each others presence for the time being as Yunari led Kaoru to the outside balcony.  
  
"It's nice out, huh?" Kaoru asked Yunari. "Yeah," she replied, nervously edging closer to him. She wanted to talk with him more, but she felt like she couldn't. 'GREAT,' she thought to herself. 'I've become a little wussy- wuss.'  
  
Meanwhile, Kaoru was struggling with different emotions. Yunari noticed that he seemed dazed, and then, suddenly, his eyes snapped open with a fierce look in them. It scared Yunari a bit. Kaoru remembered in a flash what had happened. "Damn them. Stupid bastards." Kaoru swore quietly. "What?" Yunari asked, surprised at his sudden change of heart. These guys..they gave me a drink and told me it was a type of new soda they were testing..so I tried it, and it turned out it made me act weird.like I was so nice to you..I normally avoid girls...technically, it made me DRUNK! DAMNIT! THOSE STUPID BASTARDS ARE GONNA PAY!" Kaoru yelled suddenly, scaring Lantis, Hikaru, and Yunari half to death. But he also had angered someone, who quickly and quietly leapt onto the balcony, stepping into the moonlight before baring his razor-sharp, glinting-white teeth.  
  
It was Karaka.  
  
And his eyes were glowing an angry red.  
  
"Oh, hey, Karaka! Come here; I'll got a treat for..you?" Yunari whimpered as he approached her, fangs still bared. Everyone just stared and thought about what was going to happen next. Was he just cranky? Or was he..not Karaka?  
  
Suddenly the rest of the gang appeared out of nowhere, and the creature rudely jolted everyone out of their thoughts as he leapt forward, raking his top canines along Shira's leg, and biting Yunari's left side and arm. He then turned and roughly picked the fallen Yunari up in his mouth, leaving more small puncture wounds from his teeth, jumping away from the people. Hikaru gasped in fear for her friends, and wished to the heavens that she had her sword with her. Lantis tried to stop her from doing anything stupid, and to shield her from what she was to see. But it was too late; Karaka landed on the other side of the balcony, dropping the limp form of Yunari, letting at least a quart of fresh blood drip from his jaws.  
  
"SHIRA!" Zazu screamed, realizing that Shira was lying in front of him, her left leg dripping blood. He ran forward and broke free of the grasp Lafarga had on his wrist, grabbed Shira, held her close, comforting her, all the while crying.  
  
Suddenly time was frozen; standing still. Everyone wanted to know why the terror had to start then, on such a happy night at a happy occasion. They wondered why it had to be like this, and why they had to put up a sound barrier to prevent other people from coming up or suspecting anything. No one knew what to do, but they all knew they had to do SOMETHING. No one made a move for at least one minute. One grueling minute of thought, planning, and listening to the sickening sounds of dripping blood and Karaka growling.  
  
Finally, though, the minute was up, and someone broke the silence. Everyone turned and stared when they heard and saw a glint of metal as the blond guy suddenly drew a beautifully crafted sword. Yunari couldn't think straight; she had lost a lot of blood at one time; she didn't know why her beloved dog-gone-wolf was now a dog-gone-wolf-gone- EVIL. The stress was just too much for her to take, and due to the loss of blood, she fainted. Kaoru saw this from the corner of his eyes. "Damn you," Kaoru muttered under his breath.  
  
Umi noticed that his eyes narrowed slightly and he seemed to rise in power a bit. 'What...' she thought. 'What is his problem?'.  
  
"Damn you," he began again, but this time his voice picked up a bit and his sword seemed to shine brightly. "You dare hurt any of these innocent people?!?! You...you're probably possessed by one of those Bastard's creatures..YOU DAMNED ANIMAL!!!!!!" he exploded, rushing at Karaka with his silver sword. "Don't!" Ascot shouted, but Kaoru didn't listen. Karaka turned just in time to see him jump four feet in the air, bringing his shining weapon down upon him. It cut Karaka's ear, badly injuring the beast, but not bad enough; it had put up a shield that made Kaoru miss his mark.  
  
Karaka was about to take up Yunari, but he suddenly turned and slashed at Hikaru, picking her up in his jaws, as she writhed and screamed in pain. Just before he could crunch down on her, however, Diamond walked out to Karaka. He paused as she walked up to him until they were only eight feet apart. Karaka's anger rose, and he was readying to strike down Diamond when she suddenly shouted a chanting-spell, much to everyone's surprise.  
  
"GUARDIAN FORCES! GRANT ME POWER...." She closed her eyes, and suddenly her hair flew around her as it was twirled by a magic breeze. "....ICE SPEARS, ATTACK!"  
  
Karaka fell to his four knees, whimpering in agony and anger, as he was assaulted by spears of rock-hard ice, sharp as a knife.  
  
"Nice hit! But it's my fight! You take those girls and run, NOW!" Kaoru demanded. She automatically obeyed; she could sense he was no joke. And she knew he was very smart despite his dark attitude. So, as he charged full speed at Karaka, distracting him, she took possession of her three friends. Kaoru brought his silver blade upon the wolf. It cut deep into the wolf's side, letting green blood spill. As the wolf howled in pain, it suddenly fell limp, as a black monster, barely visible, phased out of his body.  
  
"Yunari? Hikaru? ...What are you doing..no....DON'T! UMI! HELP!" Diamond called frantically as she realized her friends were trying to attack.  
  
"Lightning...."  
  
"Ruby...."  
  
The monster opened his eyes and darted them in the direction of the voices.  
  
"ATTACK!"  
  
"LIGHTNING!"  
  
Karaka watched as two rounds of lightning came ripping down upon the beast that had taken him under his control. It roared in pain and was almost torn to shreds, but with his final shred of energy he saved himself enough to run. But before he could, he was faced with his final foe...  
  
"Water......DRAGON!" Umi shouted, and as the wave came crashing down upon the creature, it called its final cry of life, and was shredded in an instant.  
  
Everyone stared for a few minutes, making sure it was really over. Then, they all shakily congratulated each other.  
  
"Good job Hikaru! And you two Umi! OUCH!"  
  
"Thanks Umi, you helped Yunari and I."  
  
"Same back at you, Yunari..be careful; you too, Hikaru! You guys are still weak. You shouldn't hurt yourselves anymore!"  
  
"On that note, let me heal you through a chant....Guardian Forces.Grant me power....WINDS OF HEALING!" Diamond copied Fuu's attack, and when she finished to gaping stares of fully healed companions, she laughed and shook her head. "It's a mix of magic I can use through Cephiro until I learn to use my own," she explained brightly.  
  
"Oh." They all wondered why they hadn't thought of that.  
  
"THAT'S IT!" Umi snapped. "Hikaru, remember that village we entered where Ferio told us of Padero?" Umi's eyes flashed to Ascot's as she mentioned his friend, but he didn't seem affected too much, so she didn't worry.  
  
"Yeah," Hikaru replied. "Why?"  
  
"Because, remember that blond guard who laughed and smiled as he let us into the village? THAT was KAORU!"  
  
"YOU'RE RIGHT! Hikaru yelped. "It's been awhile, eh, Kaoru?" she asked, smiling at him.  
  
"You knew him before?" Yunari asked.  
  
"Apparently so," Kaoru smiled. "But I still think you girls are all fools. Especially you, Yunari, and her," he said, pointing to Hikaru. "You really shouldn't attack in a condition like that. If that worked the last time you were here, I'm surprised," he added to Hikaru. "Oh well. Here, let me help you up...you little wench," he said walking over to Yunari, helping her up and causing her to blush when he called her a 'wench'. 'Good LORD!' Yunari thought, noticing what a strong grip he had on her.  
  
"Are you O.K., wench?" he asked her, face devoid of any emotions. "Yeah, I'll be fine! Don't worry about it, I'm just still a little scared."  
  
"All right then, if you say so...but never do something stupid like that again, you stupid bitch," he said, smirking as he pinched her ear hard. She blushed a furious tan-red from all of his name calling. Everyone else just kind of stared and laughed at her, then shut up as Kaoru helped her up and then walked off towards the stairs.  
  
"I don't know about you people, but I'm going swimming. If you come, I'll see you there. But just call me if you need any more help. Especially you, Blondy," Kaoru said, pointing at Yunari. He then turned and walked off down the stairs towards the pools. Yunari followed his every movement with her eyes, still blushing from her embarrassment. Then, she went and joined the others as they all went back to the party and pools areas. 


	6. Level 55: Pieces Of The Puzzling Legend ...

Magic Knight Rayearth 3 Chapter 6  
  
*The room was dark. At least, she thought it was a room. As she walked around in the black of nothing, she suddenly noticed a light glowing in front of her. And standing in the light was an out-lined figure, who turned out to be.. 'ME!' she thought frantically. Suddenly, her other self called out "Sis! Sis, where are you!?" Then, as soon as the light had appeared, it disappeared and gave way to a vision of the past; a vision she had long since forgotten.. (A couple is frantically running down the street through the pouring rain. In the woman's hand is a baby basket which holds her precious newborns. A roaring noise can be heard from behind them. The man hurries his wife along. Finally, they find the place they are looking for. They set the basket down in a well in the nearby park, just as a bullet, followed by a dark beam of black light, flies from behind them. They couple takes one last glance at their children, then run off for home. Their attacker, noticing an absence of former persons, turns and flees, his mission complete. (A few hours later the sky is clear. The sun is shining brightly. One of the children turns restlessly, but falls out of the basket into the water. It's cries of panic are heard by a passing animal. Meanwhile, the couple returns and swiftly retrieves the basket, not noticing one child is missing... (Disturbed by the noise, and sensing fear and danger, the wolf-dog runs to the well, leans in, and gently pulls the child out. After the child stops crying, the dog sits next to it, noticing it has fallen asleep. When the two wake up later, the dog carefully gathers the child once again, but this time, he takes the baby to a beautiful but abandoned house.) 'What was that?' she thought as the vision ended. 'I don't understand...' "That's the problem with you; that is why you will never achieve your destiny. You are just too un-intelligent to figure anything out," called a sickening voice. She whipped around only to be met by the gaze of two glowing red eyes. "Wh..Who...What are you?" she nervously asked. "Or maybe...maybe you are fulfilling your destiny! Maybe your destiny was to fail!" The voice cackled evilly at this thought. "Grrrrrr..." she growled angrily through gritted teeth. "Who ARE you?" she demanded forcefully. "That's right, girl. Show your anger! Maybe one day it will backfire on you, all in MY favor! Hah...hah..HAH! Well, at least you've gotten my respect, for through your anger I can see that your strengths are numerous and great. I am known only as Toyata. A.k.a. your worst nightmare- literally." At this she just gasped, then she glared. "Oh? You don't believe me? Or maybe you just don't WANT to believe me?! Well, how about I give you a little taste of my powers to help you decide?" She noticed all too late as familiar dark beam of light shot forward at her. And this time, no one was there to help her escape....*  
  
"AHHHHHHHH" Yunari sat straight up in bed, covered in a cold sweat, wondering where she was. When she remembered, she happily and unhappily recalled the memories of the battle that night, and the pool bash. Then, she remembered her dream. "What...what was that all about?" she wondered aloud. "And..who were those two kids..?" For a few moments, she could do nothing but try to wonder what her dream had meant, and wonder if it even was a dream.. Her train of thought was interrupted by a loud knock at her door. "YUNARI! Please open the door!" "WHAT'S WRONG?" came the muffled cries of Fuu and Hikaru. She quickly jumped out of bed and unbolted the door, backing away to let her friends in. "Hey, are you OK? We heard you scream while we were getting a drink." "Yeah, please tell us what is the matter." Yunari sat on her bed. "First, I want to ask you two something...Did you have any dreams or nightmares lately?" Hikaru just looked at Yunari, blinking. "Well, no, not that I can remember." "Fuu? Did you?" Fuu didn't answer at first. Then, slowly, she shook her head up and down. Yunari's eyes widened a little. "I'm sorry to remind you if it was bad, but does the name Toyata ring a bell?" "Ye...Yes," Fuu said warily, turning slightly pale. "Well, if that's the case, I think we'd better go to Clef, because I just had a dream, too," stated a shaky Umi, silhouetted in the doorway.  
  
~*~  
  
"Tell me again; you saw yourself yelling for a sister into nothingness? Then you saw what you believe to be a vision from your past? And then you saw what Fuu and Umi saw as well?" Yunari nodded. "I don't know, it just seems familiar, like from a legend or from a book that I have read. Is there anything else you three can tell me about this being?" "His name...his name was Toyata...." Umi whispered. "Toyata? That name does sound very familiar. Well, I will look him or her up in my study tomorrow, but as for the four of you, you need only address one problem: sleep. Now go on and get some rest. Tomorrow I will call you up here for the meeting. I bid you all a good night." Clef closed the door behind them, letting his face fall from calm to nervous. "Toyata..If he has arisen, so have his accomplices.. I must warn the others at the meeting tomorrow."  
  
Back at their rooms, each girl was trying to sleep without success. Particularly Hikaru. "Where..." she mumbled. "Where have I heard that name before? Someone I fought mentioned it. It wasn't Zagato or Emeraude, though. So who was it?" 'It was Debonair. Debonair said it when she was defeated by you,' stated a familiar voice. "Nova?" 'Yeah?' "Are you sure?" 'Of course I am' "I sure hope so."  
  
~*~  
  
'Tap tap tap'. A knock was heard at the door. Clef woke up and found himself with his head in between the pages of a book. Slightly disturbed, he could only wonder who would be at the door at this hour, and being too tired to get up, he quietly mumbled, "Who is it?" "It's me, Clef; Fuu. And I found some useful information." Suddenly he was wide awake, fumbling with the door handle. "Come in; sit down," her said as he finally opened the door and conjured up a chair. Fuu took a seat and spread three books on a table. They were covered in dust and grime, and appeared to be very old. The words on their covers were indistinguishable. Upon closer inspection, two of them had pictures on their covers. One had a picture of what seemed to be a door handle with eight arms and a depression in the center. The other had four very familiar symbols on it. One green symbol looked like a bird, a yellow one like a ball of electricity, a third blue one that looked like waves, and a fourth red one that appeared to be a flame. 'Where have I seen these before?' Clef pondered to himself until he realized that Fuu was waiting there patiently. As he came back down to Cephiro, he motioned for her to explain. "Well," she began, "I have only found one reference to Toyata. It's in this book," she finished, pointing to the door handle book. Opening it, she flipped through until she reached what seemed to be chapter three. "Here," she said, pointing at the second paragraph and handing the book to Clef. He took it and began to read. 'And, yet again, the Knights shall return, a new addition at their side; Evil shall rise under the name Toyata, and all who have faced him shall cower in fear of his wrath. He will realize his power so great as he brings about his own minions. His destruction shall go unnoticed, yet the Knights shall be summoned. Armed as they shall be, they will not yet be prepared to defeat the King of Evil. They shall, therefore, embark on a quest to find the keys and clues that shall help them along the way to victory." Clef looked up. "These other two books tell a bit about these 'keys and clues' that we must find. But, now that you know all this, can I please go to bed? I couldn't sleep, so I've been up all night looking for this info." Fuu stated as she yawned sleepily. "Of course. You need your rest, as I stated earlier tonight. Good night, Fuu." "Good night, Clef."  
  
~*~  
  
"Not AGAIN!" Yunari shouted as she once again roamed the room of darkness. As a light grew before her, she raised her fists, being as they were her only weapons, and she thought it might be Toyata. But instead, the light just stayed put as it became part of a circle of lights. There were ten lights now glowing brightly, the largest and brightest one sitting in the middle of the ring. Yunari couldn't help but notice the colors of the balls of light. Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red with Orange swirls, Blue with Gold swirls, Green with White swirls, Yellow with Black swirls, and, finally, the middle light, which was a glimmering rainbow color. And from the center light, the shadow of a creature emerged, which dashed off to a forest beyond that was dimly lit by something in the center. A forest that was unmistakably the Forest of.... "OW!" Yunari shot up, wide awake, as something white and fluffy hit her squarely in the forehead. "Mokona, you nutter!" she hissed, catching the creature in mid-bounce. "Why'd you wake me up? That dream was important! I think it meant something!" "Puu PUU!" Mokona blurted, bouncing up and down on Raika's empty bed. "Oh! Well, show me where he is, then, and quickly, too!" Yunari whispered, smiling at the little animal. Following Mokona was no big deal. He led her all through the castle and right down to the main gardens, where Yunari had never been before. It was simply amazing. Huge bushes and flowers lined the maze-like walkways, and Yunari could look anywhere but in front of her. Which was her mistake in the first place. WHAM! 


	7. Level 56: A Midnight Walk, The Dream Cre...

Magic Knight Rayearth; Level 7  
  
WHAM! Yunari slammed into something head-first, and fell to the ground, clutching her head for a moment. "What was THAT?!" she muttered under her breath. But before she could see who or WHAT it was, a pair of strong, muscular arms hoisted her up, gathered her in a tight grip, and turned her to face forward.  
  
"Don't say anything, or you'll scare it away," said a cool voice.  
  
She couldn't do anything but do as she was told. And as she stared forward she saw something that shocked her out of her wits.  
  
There was Raika, his black fur glowing slightly, and two tiny golden feathers protruding from his shoulders. But as if that wasn't shocking enough, there, right next to Raika, was a glowing outline of the creature. The creature from her dream.  
  
She opened her mouth, gaping in utter surprise, but as she did, it caught a glimpse of her captor and herself, and it dashed away off towards the same glowing forest from her dream.  
  
Raika then proceeded to pounce upon Yunari, knocking her onto her captor's lap. She was going to laugh and apologize, but when she turned and saw who it was, she quickly fought off Raika and blushed a deep maroon color. 'Oh JOY,' she thought to herself. 'It's the absolute LAST person I'd want to clumsily run into!'  
  
Kaoru was just able to stop himself from laughing out loud. "Don't sweat it," he grinned, reading Yunari's face. "Dogs do that sometimes, and it's really difficult to see or control where you're landing."  
  
"Yeah, well I'm sorry for running into you in the first place," she muttered densely.  
  
"I can't blame you. Everything in these gardens are so beautiful; even if you've been in them one million times, you can't help but stare at things.." Yunari didn't notice that as he spoke those words, he was staring directly at her. Instead, she was too busy wondering why he was being so much more friendly than normal....Had someone forced him to drink again, so now he was drunk again?  
  
"Well, sorry for disturbing you on your, er...mid-night walk. I better be headed back to my room now, though; I need some more sleep before I really wake up," Yunari said, managing a small giggle.  
  
"Sure. But I'll walk you to your room; I sleep outside for now, and it gets lonely walking by myself."  
  
"You know," she began to change the subject, "I was wondering...how many times have you actually seen that creature?"  
  
"About eight times," he responded, almost automatically. Yunari was stunned at his honesty. 'He could have simply lied to me,' she thought to herself.  
  
Being so busy thinking, she barely noticed when they reached her open door.  
  
"This is your room, right?" Kaoru motioned towards her door and led her inside. He began to say, "Good night", but before he could, Raika cunningly appeared out of nowhere, shoved the two inside Yunari's room, and shut the door, sitting in front of it. Meanwhile, Mokona conjured up an extra bed, and magicked Kaoru into the spare, and Yunari into her own.  
  
"YOU LITTLE..LET US.ER.HIM OUT!" Yunari hollered, struggling to get loose.  
  
"Well, actually....now that I'm sort of stuck here, may I spend the night? After all, I don't have anywhere to sleep otherwise except in my tree- branches-and-leaves bed," Kaoru asked simply. Yunari became dead silent for a few moments, and then replied with a whispered "yes" as she once again blushed a deep reddish color.  
  
"Thanks," he muttered quietly. "Good night, Yunari."  
  
Yunari, tired of struggling for freedom, and extremely embarrassed, just managed to utter "Good night, Kaoru." Then, as Raika crept onto his bed next to hers, she scratched his head and giggled gently, muttering "You big butthead; you did that on purpose." Then, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.  
  
  
  
Kaoru could barely sleep. He couldn't help but stare at Yunari, wondering how something so and fragile could be a Magic Knight. Then, he noticed she seemed to be cringing in fear at a nightmare. Despite the fact that he hated most girls, he felt sorry. He mentally beat his head on the wall when he realized that he had brushed her hair out of her face. "Stupid girl," he thought to himself. slipping into his own bed and falling to sleep.  
  
~*~  
  
The next morning went fairly well; Kaoru woke Yunari up and took her down to breakfast, where he told her that Clef wanted to see her at the garden fountain later that afternoon.  
  
"And after that, he wants to see you in his study. I don't know what for, but it may be something about your weapon. And by the way, thanks for letting me sleep in a bed. You don't have a clue how much damned pain I feel after sleeping in trees all night." "Yeah, sure." "Well, let's go." "All right."  
  
~*~  
  
"Hey! Clef! What did you want?" Yunari asked, running up to him. "Yunari...I'm terribly sorry for surprising you so soon with this startling information. You too, Hikaru," Clef said, leading the two girls outside.  
  
"Well, what is it, Clef?" Hikaru asked, bending down to his height.  
  
"I'm sorry that I must rush to tell you this but...you two are sisters."  
  
"WE'RE WHAT?!....YOU MEAN MY DREAMS WERE TRUE?!" yelped the two girls in unison. They glanced at each other, however, and then laughed hysterically, accepting the truth very quickly and easily.  
  
"Well, we're sorry for rushing YOU, Clef, but..." Yunari began.  
  
"We have to go tell Umi and Fuu and the others about this," Hikaru said, laughing as she finished her sister's sentence.  
  
"Yes, well, then, I shall see you later," Clef called out to their departing backs. "Women and teenage girls," he muttered.  
  
"EXCUSE ME?!" Presea said, hovering over him.  
  
"Eh....heh heh...help!" 


	8. Level 57: The Secret Of The Legendary Th...

Magic Knight Rayearth 3 Chapter 8  
  
"I TOLD you, Umi, it's true!" Hikaru said in exasperation to Umi for the third time. "I know, but I just can't get over it. You two don't even look alike except for your faces maybe. But your hair just totally throws everything else off." "Well Umi, you don't always have to look alike when you're related. As you know, Hikaru's brothers' hair doesn't come close to Hikaru's red either, but they're still related. And there are other things that are similar," Shira explained. "For example, Yunari and Hikaru both seem to have that same energy. And they both apparently have strong magic here." "Yeah," Umi sighed. "I guess so. But still...WOW!" "UMI!" Hikaru half whined half laughed. Then, she turned around and said, "Isn't Umi being really weird, Yunari?" Nobody answered. "Uh, you guys? Where's Yunari?" Hikaru asked curiously. "Don't know," Diamond replied. "Haven't seen her." Shira sighed. "Wasn't she here a minute ago?" wondered Umi. "I wonder where she could have gone off to?" Fuu pondered. " Oh great. Well, maybe she went to get some food or something, so let's go down to the kitchen," Hikaru stated, pushing everyone out of her room and down the hall.  
  
~*~  
  
"Clef, what did you want?" Yunari called to him from across the study. "Oh, good- you're here," Clef said hurriedly. Yunari sat down on the floor as he cleared his throat. Neither of them noticed that someone was watching them carefully. "I have been informed by Umi that there was an attack at the party. From what I hear, your more grouchy wolf had been possessed, and had attacked Shira and the others, who had somehow phased from the dance floors right up to the balcony. I suspect that they summoned themselves there without noticing it because their hearts could sense the coming danger. Of course, none of you noticed that they had just appeared because everybody was too pre-occupied with..um...Karaka, right?" Clef asked, pausing. "Yeah. His name is Karaka, and my nicer one is Raika." Yunari said, correcting his memory. "Oh, right. Well anyway, I realized that two of the people who were attacked..namely, you and Shira...were totally defenseless. The reason? Neither of you were armed." "Huh?" Yunari blinked rapidly. Clef sighed. 'She is really out of it today,' he thought to himself. "What I mean is that neither of you had weaponry. Everyone else had a weapon, but they just didn't have the time to think of pulling it out. Normally, Hikaru and Umi would do that automatically, but they didn't have their armor or gloves with them. Therefore, they could not possibly summon their swords to aid you and Shira." "Oh, I get it...but what's your point?"  
  
Clef sweat-dropped and face-faulted. Then, picking himself up, he replied rather crisply, "You need a weapon."  
  
"Oh!" Yunari exclaimed. "Just one question..How? I don't have any Cephiran money let alone money at all, and I certainly can't make a weapon myself." "That's the thing," Clef began. "You are a Magic Knight. It is said in the more popular legends that three Legendary Magic Knights would get their weapons personally made for them. They would get them made out of Escudo from the Legendary Spring of Eterna. However, the correct legend states that the first three Knights would come first, obtaining their Escudo form the spring. Later, a fourth Knight would emerge, and that Knight would receive their Escudo from the place where their Magic had once left a mark upon Cephiro's face." Yunari sat and stared, eyes glazed over, listening to every word that left Clef's mouth. Clef continued quickly. "Your magic is Thunder magic, but you therefore also control the effect magic, Storm magic. Storm magic comes naturally with Thunder magic, but not every Thunder magic user can use Storm magic. Do you understand?" "Yes," Yunari replied. "Good. On the note of Storm and Thunder magic, there is only one place on the entire planet of Cephiro where your magic has left a ridiculously large mark. That place is Storm Crater. It is exactly nine miles South-east of this castle. You, being the fourth Knight, must journey there, retrieve the Escudo, and return here. When you do that, come tell me, and I will direct you about what to do next. My main point is, however, that I can sense evil somewhere nearby. And having this said, you need to leave for Storm Crater NOW. You can't even go get your sister and friends. You must leave right away. So, having that been said...go!" The eavesdropper ran off in the direction of the Grand Dining room. Meanwhile, Yunari got up, bowed to Clef, and left without another word.  
  
~*~  
  
"OK. It's really been long enough. I think I'm officially worried about Yunari right now," Hikaru said, jumping up from her chair. "I'm gonna go look for her." "No, don't go just yet," Shira said, grabbing Hikaru's left arm. "She might be looking for us. Eventually she'll find us here." "Shira's right, Hikaru," Fuu pointed out. "And anyway, if we DID look for her, even if we split up, we'd never find her. This castle is just too big!" "What if she's not in the castle?" Umi asked. "She's not ," muttered a smooth voice from the doorway.  
  
Hikaru whipped around, drawing out her sword, but she gasped and put it away when she saw who it was.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Kaoru! I didn't know it was you!" Hikaru exclaimed, running up to him. "And what do you mean, 'she's not here'? She has to be. Why would she want to wander off alone when all those monsters are here?" "Because Clef sent her out to get something," He replied coolly. "I don't what for. I'd been listening to Clef and Yunari talk, and I couldn't catch what he wanted her to get. But I do know where she's headed. If you want, I'll take you there. But I'm warning you ahead of time- you should all get about two bodyguards to come. Only two. Trust me, you'll need them. Take my word for it...I've had personal experiences." "WHAT do you MEAN? Why will we need BODYGUARDS? Are you FORGETTING who you're talking to?" Umi raged. But no one replied. Kaoru was gone. "Grrrrrrrr," Umi muttered. "How does he do that? It bothers me. Then again, HE bothers me," Diamond snorted, smirking at no one. "Yeah. He's a shady guy. He's hard to trust. But I still think we should heed his advice," Fuu retorted to Diamond. "So, who will we get to be our bodyguards, then?" "Lantis." Hikaru and Umi said at the same time. Hikaru gave Umi a strange look of betrayal. "What? He's strong! He's powerful! He's convincing! He's invincible! He'd be a GREAT bodyguard!" she protested. "OK. But who will be the other bodyguard? I don't think Ferio can leave this castle just yet." Hikaru pondered. "How about Lafarga?" Caldina suggested as she suddenly popped her head in the doorway, scaring the daylight out of the girls. "Well, isn't he busy? He's a father now!" Diamond pointed out. "Yeah, I know that Hun, but I'm taking care of the family business, and besides...Lafarga's been kinda bored at work lately...He needs some adventure in his life. And yes, Umi, I WAS listenin' from the hall," Caldina smiled at Umi, who was mouthing questions to Caldina form the corner of Hikaru's room.  
  
"All right then. It has been decided. Lafarga and Lantis will be your bodyguards. And in the meantime, we'll have to guard their bodies from each other, 'cuz I'm betting they'll get in a squabble sometime, somewhere along the way," Kaoru said, suddenly appearing at the door again. The girls face- faulted when they noticed him there, and immeadiately, they all went to pounce on him as payback for scaring them twice. But before they could, he ran off, leading them to Lafarga and Lantis as they chased him.  
  
~*~  
  
THWACK! Twigs snapped and branches fell to the ground as Yunari fought her way through a thick forest eight miles South-East of the castle. She was forming a clear path of branches so she could find her way back after she retrieved what she was looking for. Following at her heels was Raika, who sometimes bit and scratched bushes and small sapling out of the way. "You know, Raika, I think we're making good time. That is, considering all the obstacles in our way. We've only been traveling for about one hour. We've crossed a huge field, a tiny desert, and now we're in a thick forest. Plus, we've defeated around five nasty-mean monsters, including one of those Minotaurian things." Raika barked and nodded as she continued. "Now, let's see here..we've got about 30 yards of forest to hack if Clef was correct about Storm Crater being exactly nine mile away." At this information, Raika growled viscously at the shrubbery and began biting away like a chain-saw cutting a tree. Yunari laughed and followed, until suddenly, an exit from the forest was cleared, and a beautiful picture was almost painted before them.  
  
Spanning across a valley in front of them were a lake fed by a river, a cave where the river and the lake met, and a small forest and meadow across the lake. It was really quite beautiful, set in front of a large mountain, and it took Yunari's breath away. But, after a moment or two was spent gazing, Yunari realized that she was here for a reason: to obtain her golden-yellow Escudo. "Well, Clef did holographically tell me to go into a cavern in that lake, Raika. So, I'm guessing you can breath and speak normally in that water. It must have magical properties. Oh yeah..Storm magic created the lake crater and the lake, DUH! No wonder it's magical. Well, here I go, Raika. Wait for me here, OK buddy? Thanks." Yunari grinned at her wolf and then dove into the lake, clothes, armor, and everything else. Raika sighed, sat still for a moment, and then, noticing a familiar scent in the air, he walked off in the direction of the cave at the lake/river crossing.  
  
~*~  
  
Once under the water, Yunari realized that everything under the lake was just as beautiful as everything above the lake. There was a meadow of neon green water-grass, tons of colorful water-dwelling creatures, and a forest of seaweed. The seaweed was actually not slimy or nasty looking at all. It looked more like neon colored candy; neon blue and neon yellow were among the most frequently seen seaweed colors. Then, as Yunari stared on with wonder, her eyes caught a glint of golden-yellow light, coming from and underwater cavern at the bottom of the lake. Swimming towards it, she took deep breaths, happily dreaming of what her sword would look like once it was made.  
  
Upon reaching the cavern, she swam inside, looking in awe at the beauty of the golden-yellow crystals lining the cavern walls. Touching it, she realized it wasn't Escudo, for it wasn't warping into the gem on her glove. Thinking it was the wrong cave, she began to swim out, but suddenly, out of nowhere a boulder appeared, blocking the entrance. Yunari gasped as she heard a clear but sinister voice speak in her mind, saying "The entrance will not be cleared for you until your test is cleared by you." Wondering what the voice could be, Yunari turned back, looking for another way out. All she found was a glint of light coming from a crack in the back wall. However, she chucked a big rock at it and the crack opened into another tunnel. As Yunari was swimming forward, however, she suddenly stopped swimming, gasping in surprise and horror.  
  
There at the end of the tunnel, was a massive piece of glowing Escudo. But that wasn't what she was worried about. In front of the Escudo was Kaoru. His eyes were glowing brightly, and he had a very scary grin on his face. 


	9. Level 58: Recover Yunari's Escudo!

Magic Knight Rayearth 3 Chapter 9  
  
"Wh...what?" Yunari whimpered, watching his eyes carefully. "Why?"  
  
At first, Kaoru didn't reply. Instead, he swam forward with his sword out- stretched, and tried to hit Yunari. She just barely managed to swim out of the way. "Because I can, moron." he finally answered, turning around and swimming back towards her for another shot. "What? Is this some kind of joke?" Yunari wondered aloud, swimming away once more as he tried to cut her. 'But, he's way to serious. Even though Kaoru is kind of mean, he wouldn't attack like this if he weren't serious', she thought to herself.  
  
"Why? Why are you doing this to me?" "Because it's ample opportunity!" Kaoru yelled, stopping his attacks. "Now, here, in this cave, near the Escudo..no one else around..It's a great time and place for me to finish off that possessed wolf's work. I only wish I hadn't protected you and your measly little friends...now DIE!" Kaoru finished, swimming towards her and catching her off guard. His weapon managed to cut her ring and middle fingers as she tried to escape. The pure, blue water suddenly acquired a little cloud of red as her fingers spurt blood. The Thunder Knight yelped as she felt the pain, wondering how such a small slice could cause so much pain. "Why does it hurt so much!?" She screamed. Kaoru stopped once again, this time laughing hysterically. "You don't know? You haven't realized yet? Hah! You are so much more daft than I thought!" "What do you mean, Kaoru?" Yunari yelled back at him, biting her lip to subside the pain in her fingers. They felt like they were burning. "My sword is a MAGIC sword. It's similar to the Knights' swords, only much more magical. So, whenever I strike you and cause you to bleed, my magic is sent from me through the sword to the wound and INTO YOU! AND, if you use a sword against me," he added, pointing to a sword Clef had given her, which she was drawing out, "it will assimilate my sword's magic and hit you with it full force! Hah!"  
  
"What!? How is that bad? I could probably just absorb it if it's Thunder or Storm magic!" Yunari yelled again. "Nope. It isn't either of those magic types. It's the most lethal and powerful magic of all!" "And what magic would THAT be!?" Yunari glared at him. "DARK magic, of course. Haven't you heard of it before? I'm sure you want to face off against it to raise your skills..so fight me!"  
  
"No." She muttered densely. "Come on! Get up and battle me! Don't worry about me! I'll be ABSOLUTLEY FINE! Fight me!" "No!" She yelled loudly. "Fight me...Come on! And you call yourself a Magic Knight? Fight me to the death, Yunari! Fight me to the death or DIE!" "No..I won't..I CAN'T!" She screamed abruptly. "Why not? Are you afraid?" "No...but you're a friend of mine. I want to find out what's wrong with you...I want to help...AHHHH!" Yunari was cut off as Kaoru swung his sword through the water and struck her or the arm, letting more blood flow free of her body. The pain that wracked her arm was powerful, and she screamed into the water, Kaoru laughing at her like she was some kind of joke. "What has happened to you, Kaoru? What is wrong?" Yunari asked. "Absolutely nothing," He replied coldly. "Absolutely nothing."  
  
~*~  
  
"The desert has always been here, Lafarga. I ought to know." Lantis told Lafarga determinedly. "No, Lantis, I'm afraid you're wrong. It only appeared recently. Probably because of a monster. And how would you know anyway? Did one of your birds fly up and tell you?" Lafarga returned sarcastically. "No, you idiot! I know because I've been traveling around Cephiro ever since it returned to normal." Lantis shot back. "What for mourning your losses? Or maybe I should say, LOSS?" Lafarga growled low, glancing quickly at Hikaru (who, like the other girls, was completely ignoring the argument) and then back to Lantis. "Are you implying that something was going or IS going on between US!?" Lantis raged, looking very thoroughly annoyed. "YES! As a matter of fact, I AM!" Lafarga sneered. "Maybe I'll go tell everyone else, huh? How about I start that right NOW?!" "HOW ABOUT WE FIGHT RIGHT NOW!?" Lantis implied.  
  
"Damnit!" Would you two bastards shut up and act you age? Or is that not possible?" Kaoru fumed at the two Kailu, glaring angrily. "Must I teach you a lesson on PUNISHMENT? Because TRUST me, I WILL HURT YOU if you don't SHUT THE HELL UP!"  
  
Lantis and Lafarga looked around and noticed that everyone was looking at them, so they both fell silent and walked along without saying a word.  
  
~*~  
  
"Why? Why are you doing this to me? Have you gone insane with your rage?!" Yunari stared at Kaoru in disbelief. In the past ten minutes, he had cut her three times...once on her fingers, once on her arm, and once on her right hand. "No...It's just fun. But don't worry. I'll ensure you that you will have a nice, painful death.." Kaoru laughed again. "Oh, and about my magic? I'm sure your little friends have heard of it. They've fought it before. They won. Once I'm through with you, I'll go fight them. They'll face Dark magic once again. But they won't win this time!"  
  
"No..you won't..you won't get away with this.." Yunari muttered. "I won't let you...I won't..." She suddenly got up off of the cave floor (which she had sunk too), and raised her hand above her, eyes closed. "What the...what in ninety hells are you doing?!" Kaoru demanded, glaring at her angrily. "I now understand that you are not the Kaoru I know. Maybe you're 'drunk' again. Or maybe you're possessed. Or maybe you were always like this and were just hiding it. But it doesn't matter. No matter what your problem is, you seem to be permanently damaged. And that makes you a threat to this world, as far as I can see. That means..." Yunari's eyes suddenly welled up with golden tears (despite the magic water). "That means I have to....to.....destroy you!" She held back her tears, knowing that he wasn't the one she was crying for. "Now, I'm going to introduce you to MY magic! Thunder magic!" Yunari told him, trying to grin without crying. "What? You think it'll work on me? You've gotta be kidding! No way!" Kaoru stared, dumbfounded, as she raised her right arm above her and pointed towards the cave ceiling. "THUNDER..." She began, glowing with a golden-yellow aura. "That glow.." Kaoru mouthed. "She's learned something new! CRAP!" "DAGGERS!" Yunari finished her new spell. But as she waited, nothing came.  
  
"Hah!" Kaoru jeered, pointing at her and smiling evilly. "Nothing happened."  
  
Without warning, a swishing sound was heard, followed by a clap of thunder.  
  
"What is THAT?!" Kaoru muttered. But before he could think about it any longer, at least one hundred thick yellow daggers crashed through the cave wall, instantly bombarding Kaoru. "AHHHHH HELL!" He screamed as the attack ripped at his arms, legs, and left side. He swam to the cave floor, hoping to avoid the next round of daggers that came flying through the now-opened cave entrance.  
  
While Kaoru was busy trying to avoid the attack, Yunari swam over to the Escudo. 'Now's my chance to take the Escudo and get out of here,' she thought, looking at the mineral before her with awe. Looking to see if Kaoru was still busy (which he was), she began to reach out to the ore. But when she finally touched it, it quickly let loose a blast of magic that blew Yunari away from it. "What was THAT?!" She yelped, trying to touch it again. However, she was blasted back once again. This time, it sent her flying to the floor, and she landed hard with a loud SMACK! "What the heck?" She murmured. "There's barely any water left..and what's left is surrounding the Escudo, like some kind of barrier.." What she said was true; the water was swirling around the Escudo, glowing fiercely, protecting it from anything that came near it. She was so busy looking at the magical mineral that she didn't notice that her attack had stopped. However, she finally realized it when she heard Kaoru yelling.  
  
Walking up to him slowly and carefully, she looked down upon him and grinned. "So, Kaoru? Do you like the pain? I'll bet you don't. And this is nothing compared to what you've done to me in the last forty-five minutes. I hope you're sorry for what you did."  
  
"I...am...sorry," Kaoru mumbled through gritted teeth. "I'm serious. I want to.... return to the castle and be better again. Seriously." Yunari just stared at him, dumbstruck. "Do you MEAN it?!" She backed four feet from him and looked him in the eyes. "Do you REALLY mean it?" Kaoru didn't answer for a minute. Then, he coldly responded. "NO." Yunari realized she only had a little time to get the Escudo and escape, so she began to run towards the mineral and the exit. But as she reached the now unprotected Escudo, she gasped as she felt a sudden, sharp pain in her left leg. Looking down, she watched as her right leg was stabbed too. Falling to the hard, cold ground, Yunari screamed loudly, clutching her new wounds. After sitting there and wailing for three minutes, she realized that Kaoru was about to get up and attack, so she drew her sword and braced herself.  
  
"Don't you remember what I told you about my sword, you little wretch? It will hurt you with my wonderful magic!"  
  
"Yes, I remember...quite well. And that's why I won't let my sword ever touch yours," she smirked, yelping from the pain of her wounds. She then let her eyes well up with tears as she remembered what she had to do. "Now, Kaoru; this is the end. I must send you to your grave, or DIE TRYING!" She yelled as he ran forward, full of malice. "And how DARE you even THINK or PLAN of hurting my FRIENDS!" she retorted to his previous threats.  
  
Kaoru came head-on, preparing to slice her head off. He lifted his sword slightly to the side and roared angrily. He almost reached her and was about to stab down into her head when he suddenly stopped and let his sword clatter to the ground. Blood stained his shirt as he backed up. Looking for the source of pain and biting back the urge to scream, he spotted Yunari. She was kneeling on the floor, holding her sword at a diagonal angle, dripping bright red blood from her wounds. Her blood on her hands was stained with a thick black blood, which both she and her sword were covered in.  
  
~*~  
  
"We're here." Kaoru stopped walking and let the girls, Lantis, and Lafarga walk through the opening in the forest. "Nice place...are you OK, Kaoru? You look a little pale.." Lafarga looked upon the younger boy in a concerned manner. . "I'm fine." Kaoru gritted. However, two minutes later... "AHHH!" Kaoru screamed, clutching at his chest around where his lungs were, and falling to the ground. "Kaoru! What's wrong? Did something attack you?" Hikaru frantically talked to him, trying to help subside the pain. "My..my chest..it hurts faintly let sharply..I'm OK..the sudden shock of pain just surprised me, and I had the wind knocked out of me. So don't worry about me girl. " "Are you sure?" Umi looked skeptical. "Yeah, Umi's right; you don't look good," agreed Shira. "And stubborn guys like you ALWAYS say that they're fine when they're really not." Diamond added, smirking. "Seriously," Kaoru said getting up and dusting himself off. "I'm fine." "If you say so," Fuu said. "However, I do think that something might be wrong with Yunari.." Kaoru added, drifting off. "What?" Hikaru ran up to him. "What's wrong?" "I don't know, but I can...feel it..somehow.." 'In my heart and head' he thought. "Well let's find her then, or she may be in more trouble than she can handle, knowing her." Shira urged, rushing them along. "Take it easy, woman! My chest still hurts!" Kaoru complained. "Oh shut up, Kaoru."  
  
~*~  
  
"You..you stupid girl..you damned...Magic Knight..." Kaoru struggled to talk, gasping for air with his punctured lungs and ribs. "I'll come back for you..someday." He fell to the ground, rolling onto his back gasping for breath for a few moments. Then, laying his hands at his sides, he fell limp. The moment her  
  
Yunari kneeled there, and then sat up slowly, careful not to bruise herself anymore. She slowly limped (on both legs) to the Escudo, which was no longer protected by the water. Touching it as Clef said, she was only slightly shocked when it was sucked into her glove jewel. She wanted to leave, but felt something tugging at her insides, and she turned back to Kaoru.  
  
She looked at him and crawled over, looking at his face. Her tears slowly slipped down her face and landed on his closed eyes. Drawing up her courage, she moved next to his head and placed her warm cheek on his cold one.  
  
"It's not fair," she spoke. "It's not fair whatever happened to you. I'll get revenge for you, don't worry. And....I was sort of starting to..enjoy your company as a friend, too..maybe it was getting closer to being something.....something more.."  
  
"Then why don't you JOIN ME!"  
  
Blood erupted out of Yunari's back and stomach as a hole was punched into her. Kaoru, with his last breaths of life, plunged the sword deeper and deeper into her until only the hilt showed from her stomach. Then, he slowly twisted the blade out of her, making sure to do it slowly and roughly, ensuring that the pain she felt was unimaginable. When the blade finally left her body, more blood spilled out of her, but this time, it turned black as it left her.  
  
"The magic is taking it's effect. Maybe you will come with me, and we can spend time together..fighting all eternity..but the point is.........I told you.I'd get........my revenge," Kaoru breathed, speaking his last words of life. This time, as he fell limp, he did not come back. He stayed there, completely dead.  
  
Yunari couldn't do anything. She was still lying nearby him, her cheek still touching his. All she could do for quite awhile was wonder where he went wrong, and how he did it in such a short time. More tears fell off of her face and onto his. This time, they were flowing freely, and they were flowing form both pain and sorrow. "Why did I have to destroy my friend?" She whispered. "WHY!? WHYYYYY??" she yelled again into the glowing cave. She waited for a few more minutes just lying there in a huge pool of blood, wishing her sister, Fuu, and the others were there. The magic water suddenly returned from nowhere as she lay there, and her blood stained it all a deep red. Then, the pain struck hard, and she let loose the loudest scream of agony she had ever let loose in her life. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!".............  
  
~*~  
  
Hikaru lifted her head from the cave she was in. "Raika, come ON! We need your help! We have to find Yunari!" Raika just yawned and shook his head as if to say, "I'm not going to interrupt her task unless it's fully necessary." But right as he lay his head back down, Lantis and Lafarga came running up.  
  
"Hikaru!" "What, is it you guys?" "Look at the lake water!" Hikaru looked at the water near her. "What about it?" "Not there, Hikaru. Over there! Near where the underwater cavern is!" Lantis said, directing her view in the cave's direction. "Didn't Umi and Kaoru go swim there to look in it..Ah! What is that?" Hikaru exclaimed, standing up and looking at the lake water which was slowly turning a deep red color all around. "Hikaru! It's blood!" "There's blood in the lake!" Fuu, Shira and Diamond came running up to Hikaru, Lantis and Lafarga. "What? You mean Umi and Kaoru might be hurt? Are you sure it's blood?" "Yeah look." Fuu held up a small glass bottle with red water in it. "This certainly isn't food dye, Hikaru." "We have to go help theeeeEEMMM!" Hikaru shouted loudly as Raika suddenly burst out of his cave, knocking her over accidentally in the process. "What's your problem, buddy?" she asked him. "GRRRRRRRRRRR...RRRRAAAUURRRRFFF!" Raika growled and barked, pointing his ears towards the cave. "He's seems to hear something," Lantis said. "And now that I think about it, so do I." "Yeah, we do too," the girls said in unison. "It's sounds like someone screaming!" muttered Lafarga. "Maybe we should go check it out." "Agreed." They all said at once. Raika, on that note, automatically jumped in the water, let the girls on his back and the guys hold onto his tail, and swam at turbo speed to the shore above the cave. "Let's take off our armor so we won't get stuck on anything," Lafarga suggested once they were right above the cave (on the shore). But just as they were about to do so, two heads popped out of the water.  
  
"It's Umi and Kaoru!" Shira jumped up and ran to greet them. "Get out of the WAY!" Kaoru yelled so harshly that even Umi looked slightly disturbed. "What's YOUR problem?" Diamond retorted. "Kaoru, I'll explain. You need to focus on carrying her," Umi directed him.  
  
"Carry..who?" Hikaru wondered. But as Kaoru and Umi walked onto the beach, Hikaru's question was answered, which caused Hikaru, Fuu and Shira to gasp. Diamond just stared sadly, and Lantis and Lafarga frowned angrily.  
  
It was a pale version of Yunari whose legs, right arm and hand, and whole chest/torso was wrapped extremely tight in several red and white splatter- print blankets. Her right left eye also was covered with a cloth. "What happened to her?" Hikaru asked frantically, running up with the other and touching Yunari's forehead. It was ice cold, and it made Hikaru shiver.  
  
"She was attacked by.." Umi paused when she caught Kaoru's eyes ".someone down there while she was getting her Escudo." "Her ESCUDO!?" Fuu and Hikaru jumped up, shocked. "Yeah. I know she was going to get her Escudo because when we found her, she was still conscious, but she was screaming really loudly. After we talked and asked her some things, some of the last words she said were 'I got the Escudo..take me to Clef. He's at Presea's house.'" "Clef must've sent her out to get some because he sensed the coming danger," Lantis murmured. "Huh?" Everybody turned to stare at him. "That wolf possession at the dance wasn't something normal. Possessions as powerful as that are more rare, but more have been happening lately, all over Cephiro. It's all a fore-warning of the coming dangers."  
  
Everyone fell silent for a moment.  
  
Fuu, however, broke the silence. "What else did she say when she was conscious? I'm sure that you must've asked her who she was attacked by."  
  
Umi stared hard at Kaoru, almost asking if she could tell them. But before she could, he blurted it out.  
  
"I attacked her. It was apparently ME."  
  
Everyone looked at him, completely shocked.  
  
"She started crying and whimpering in fear when we found her, telling me to stay away and threatening to stab me. I asked her why she would do that and she asked me if I remembered, and 'how did I come back to life?' Then, she noticed that there was..another Kaoru. She was lying near him, but their cheeks were touching. She said she had thought it was me, and that I had been possessed. Then I said it wasn't me, and to 'Get over it wench'. I guess that helped her figure out that that guy was a fake me, because she said she was, uh..glad it wasn't really me. Then she hu....uh....mmm.." Kaoru stuttered, his tan face showing a hint of red. Umi snickered loudly. "Shut up Umi," he growled at her. "What's so funny, Umi?" Hikaru asked, not finding the humor in the situation. "She hugged OW!" She laughed harder as she got the message across, watched everyone smile and laugh at Kaoru (who's tough guy rep. had just been dirtied), and got hit hard on the head by him. When everyone had calmed down and fallen serious again, Kaoru continued, glaring at Umi. "*cough**cough*....*ahem*..Anyway, then, from her loss of blood and the effects of my look-alike's Dark magic, she fell unconscious. So we brought her up here after we wrapped her up with Umi's picnic blanket, which we had to shred..." "Umi's picnic blanket is white!" Shira exclaimed. "She can't possibly have a wound that bad! She's too strong for that!" "Wanna bet? First of all, from what she managed to tell us, he usually surprised her with his attacks and made them un-obvious, and she refused to fight him for the majority of the hour-long battle. Plus, you haven't seen her wounds. If you did, you'd understand, trust me." Kaoru retorted. "Can I see them? Fuu asked. Depending on what kind of injury it is, I might be able to heal her worst wounds." "Go ahead and try, woman. I ain't stopping any of you wenches." "Great." Fuu walked forward, and carefully and gently, (not expecting anything horrible) she removed the bandage around Yunari's torso, where the blood was the darkest. All that the girls could do when the saw the wound was gasp. It was even bigger than it had been when it was inflicted. You could almost see straight through her, and it was a wonder the attack had missed all of her organs though it went clear through her. Fuu examined it carefully, but as she touched the fresh blood on the inside of the blanket, she yelped. It had burned her slightly when she touched it.  
  
"I can't heal this," Fuu said sadly. "We'll have to make haste and get back her over to Presea's house then." Lafarga said, gently picking her up despite the dripping blood. "Hikaru, you have Tataka's whistle from Clef, right?" Hikaru blinked. "Yeah. Do you want me to call him here?" "Exactly." "OK." Hikaru blew the whistle as hard as she could, summoning the creature to her. They only waited one half-hour before he arrived, and hopping on him and Raika, they all headed back for the castle. 


	10. Disclaimer

Sorry about this folks, but I forgot to do the disclaimer, so here it is: I don't own Rayearth, I only know someone who worked on it! And that is final. 


End file.
